40,000 OU students to lose this academic year

The 40,000-odd students of Osmania University are on the verge of losing this academic year, thanks to the protracted Telangana agitation. Semester exams have been postponed in the university for the fifth time, following the alleged suicide of MCA student K. Venugopal Reddy on the campus.

To make matters worse, student unions have said they will not allow exams to be held until the Centre announces a time-frame for the formation of a separate state.
OU had postponed the exams four times because of the Telangana agitation.

The Telangana agitation has already taken its toll on the Osmania University, which has already lost 50 working days, and research and other academic activities have come to a standstill. With relative peace prevailing for the past 10 days, the university decided to conduct the semester examinations on Tuesday.
However, angered by the suicide of Venugopal Reddy, students stalled and boycotted exams. In several colleges, student activists barged in and prevented others from writing their exams and at a few places, Telangana students walked out of the examination halls.

The OU was forced to postpone the exams that were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday and said that the revised schedule will be announced soon.

“We will not appear for the exams until the government announces the formation of Telangana state,” said Mr Rama Rao Goud, member of the OU JAC. The OU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Tirupati Rao, who condoled the death of Venugopal Reddy, said that the semester exams would continue as per schedule from this Thursday.