Kasaragod: Students of the Government Nursing College, Kasaragod, have called off their protest demanding hostel accommodation after officials assured them that alternative lodging would be arranged in private hostels outside the campus.
The students had been demanding accommodation in the 500-bed hostel built for MBBS students of the Government Medical College, Kasaragod. Both institutions, which currently function with limited facilities, are run from the same campus at Ukkinadka in Badiadka panchayat. Officials, however, ruled out accommodating nursing students in the MBBS hostel, despite the course having only 50 students.
The nursing college, now in its third year, has 179 students, around 70% of them women. All of them had been boycotting classes and staging a protest since June 1, demanding hostel facilities.
“We called off the protest after our principal assured us that accommodation would be arranged outside the campus,” a student leader said.
According to students, the Medical College principal discussed the issue with the Directorate of Medical Education, following which the decision was conveyed to the nursing college principal.
“They may arrange accommodation in a working women’s hostel or a similar facility. The private hostel at Cherkala, where MBBS students are currently staying, has 50 beds. Once the MBBS students move to the on-campus hostel, 50 nursing students may be accommodated there,” the student leader said.
Leaders of the joint students’ action committee said the agitation had been temporarily withdrawn in response to this assurance. “We also cannot afford to miss our clinical training for too long,” the leader said.
Students of the second and third batches have two months of clinical training every semester, and they are supposed to be at Kozhikode Medical College. “We were supposed to report there on June 1. We will now proceed to Kozhikode,” he said.
The students warned that they would resume their agitation if the assurances given to them were not implemented.
