Students Face Job Hurdles as Marksheet by College Affiliated to BR Ambedkar University is Dated ‘June 31’

New Delhi: In an alleged case of ‘administrative error’, some students from BR Ambedkar University in Aligarh are facing job rejections since the past three years, and have now decided to take up the matter unitedly.

Last week, around 50 students from different organisations gathered in front of Dharm Samaj (DS) Degree College, Aligarh, which is affiliated to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra, to protest against the “administration error".

In fact, a heavy cost of the administration's ‘mistake’ is being paid by 14 students of Geology at DS College, Aligarh, who passed three years ago, and continue to suffer, as the marksheet issued to them in 2016 is dated June 31, while the month has only 30 days. As a result, these students have been rejected many a times when they applied for jobs. Frustrated by repeated rejection, these students said they have now stopped applying for jobs, and are demanding that the ‘error’ be rectified.

At the end of last week’s protest, these students met the Dean of Students’ Welfare Association and gave him a memorandum. “He didn’t give us any assurance. We have given them one week’s time to take action, failing which we will continue our protest,” said Ajay, one of the protesting students.

Meanwhile, the university has assured the students that they would get the marksheets corrected but the alleged that they had made repeated visits to the university for the purpose, but till date nothing has been done.

CANCEL JOB APPLICATIONS

DS College is the only one affiliated to BR Ambedkar University, Agra, which offers geology as a subject. In 2016, a total of 14 students passed the MSc (Geology) examination. But when they got the marksheet, they were shocked to see it dated ‘June 31’.

One of the affected students, Krishna Hari Sharma, was quoted by Hindi daily, Amar Ujala, as saying: "I applied for Haryana Staff Selection Commission (SSC) but my application was rejected because my marksheet was dated June 31. Whenever I go for a job interview, I am looked at with suspicion as though I have a fake marksheet. There several students like me who feel helpless. The university is only giving us assurance, we don’t know when they will correct their mistake.”

Another student told Newsclick on the condition of anonymity, "It has been three years since we have completed our MSc, but we not getting jobs anywhere because of this June 31 date in our marksheets. Who will give us jobs when we have marksheets with a fake dates. Because of the university’s ‘error’, our futures are literally at stake."

YP Singh, Head of the Department of Geology, Department of DS College, told Newsclick, "This is first such incident that has come to my knowledge. Many students have approached me seeking correction of date in the marksheet and I have raised this issue before the academic council meeting which was held on July 31. I hope the issue will be resolved soon."