Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) activists, led by state president Deepak Malik, staged a protest outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) on Monday against the shortage of regular teachers, particularly in the Department of Statistics and Data Science.

The protesters, including students from the department, also demanded the appointment of regular and qualified teachers. They urged the university to ensure that all subjects are taught regularly in the offline mode.

“Through the protest, we highlighted several issues, including the absence of regular teachers in the department, the move to teach two important subjects in the online mode, and attempts to suppress students’ voices. The students had enrolled in a regular offline course, but they are now being compelled to study online against their academic interests,” said Malik.

He said Dean (Academic Affairs) Prof A S Mann later interacted with the protesters and heard their concerns. The students also submitted printed screenshots of conversations from the department’s WhatsApp group.