{"id":4108,"date":"2025-05-14T15:47:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/?p=4108"},"modified":"2025-05-14T15:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:18:20","slug":"dont-privatize-our-future-students-protest-conversion-of-rc-and-arts-colleges-in-bengaluru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/?p=4108","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Privatize Our Future\u201d: Students Protest Conversion of RC and Arts Colleges in Bengaluru"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Karnataka Government Brutally Suppresses Peaceful Student Protest; Students Vow to Continue Fight for Affordable Education<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Bengaluru<\/strong>: In a shocking display of authoritarianism, the Karnataka State Congress government today unleashed brutal repression on students peacefully protesting against the privatization of higher education. Hundreds of students from Government RC and Government Arts College were treated like *criminals* merely for demanding their right to accessible education, as the state government moves forward with its controversial decision to convert these institutions into constituent colleges of Bengaluru City University\u2014a move that will *drastically hike fees* and exclude underprivileged students from higher learning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AIDSO Leads Massive Protest Against Education Privatization<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The All India Democratic Students\u2019 Organization (AIDSO) organized a powerful protest convention at Freedom Park, condemning the government\u2019s anti-student policies. Students, activists, and education advocates gathered in large numbers, raising slogans against the *anti-poor, pro-privatization* agenda of the Congress-led administration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Government Betrays Poor Students, Imposes Unaffordable Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>State Secretary Ajay Kamath, the keynote speaker, exposed the government\u2019s hypocrisy, stating, *\u201cWhile degree courses in government colleges cost less than \u20b96,000, constituent colleges charge exorbitant fees\u2014starting from \u20b912,000 and going up to \u20b925,000. This is nothing but a deliberate attack on the education rights of the poor.\u201d*<\/p>\n<p><strong>He highlighted alarming examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yuvaraja College (Mysuru University):** BSc fee \u2013 \u20b913,600; BBA fee \u2013 \u20b924,810<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tumkur &amp; Dharwad Constituent Colleges: Similar fee hikes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>*\u201cUniversities are already starved of funds, and now the government wants to shut down seven more. If RC and Arts College are handed over to Bengaluru City University, it will be a death knell for public education,\u201d* Kamath declared, urging students to *resist relentlessly.*<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lecturers Turn Enforcers, Assault Peaceful Protesters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>State Vice-President Abhaya Diwakar condemned the shocking brutality faced by students. *\u201cInstead of standing with their pupils, some lecturers acted like government henchmen, assaulting protesters and treating them like terrorists. These educators, who should be guardians of knowledge, have betrayed their moral duty.\u201d*<\/p>\n<p>She slammed the Congress government\u2019s *double standards*, saying, *\u201cA party that claims to be socialist and pro-Constitution is now crushing the voices of students. This is unacceptable. The government must immediately revoke this anti-student decision.\u201d*<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4117\" src=\"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AIDSO-RC-Protest-1-1024x615.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"615\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AIDSO-RC-Protest-1-1024x615.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AIDSO-RC-Protest-1-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AIDSO-RC-Protest-1-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AIDSO-RC-Protest-1.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Students Resolute: \u201cWe Will Not Back Down<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The protest, presided over by District President Apoorva, saw fiery speeches and determined resistance. District Secretary Kalyan Kumar vowed, *\u201cThis is only the beginning. We will escalate our movement until the government reverses its decision. Education is our right, not a privilege for the rich.\u201d*<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of students from RC and Government Arts College joined the demonstration, pledging to continue their struggle despite state repression.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Call to Action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Karnataka government\u2019s actions today have exposed its *contempt for public education* and its *willingness to silence dissent*. But the students\u2019 spirit remains unbroken. As the movement grows, one thing is clear: *The fight for affordable, accessible education will not be crushed.<\/p>\n<p>#SaveRCandArtsCollege | #StopEducationPrivatization | #CongressBetraysStudents<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_4108\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"4108\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karnataka Government Brutally Suppresses Peaceful Student Protest; Students Vow to Continue Fight for Affordable Education Bengaluru: In a shocking display of authoritarianism, the Karnataka State Congress government today unleashed brutal repression on students peacefully protesting against the privatization of higher education. Hundreds of students from Government RC and Government Arts College were treated like *criminals* [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[113,854,283,827],"class_list":["post-4108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-karnataka","tag-aidso","tag-betrays","tag-government","tag-poor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4120,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4108\/revisions\/4120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belgaumnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}