Students protest in the corridor of the main building of Fergusson College

PUNE: About 30 second-year BA students at the Fergusson College held a protest outside the principal’s office against the alleged forced conversion of the medium of instruction.

While the students had enrolled for their courses in Marathi in the first year, they were denied admission in Marathi medium when they tried applying for the second year.

“The admission process is online, and the link was open only for students who picked English as the instruction medium. We thought it was a technical glitch and enquired with the college. We were told that we would not be able to opt for BA courses in Marathi. When we took admission here, we thought we would be able to complete the courses in Marathi,” said a student.

Another student said, “We come from the interiors of Maharashtra and our English isn’t very good. Many of us are civil service aspirants. Forcing a language on us isn’t right, especially when we don’t have grasp over it. Marathi is the state’s official language and the college cannot deny us the right to learn in the language.”

Ashok Chaskar, former head of the SPPU’s arts department, said, “At the time of the admission, the college should have made clear all the changes that may come in the future.”

Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, principal, Fergusson College, said, “We had it in our prospectus that the Marathi option is available only in political science and economics. But students want it in sociology and history as well, which isn’t possible.”

