FDDI students march to Noida magistrate’s office, seek validity for their degree

Students of Footwear Design and Development Institute organised a march to the city magistrate’s office and submitted a memorandum demanding legitimate degrees from the college

Noida: Students of footwear design and development institute (FDDI) organised a march to the city magistrate’s office and submitted a memorandum demanding legitimate degrees from the college. The students are on a strike for the last one week, demanding a valid bachelors degree.

The city magistrate said the institute will most likely be converted into a deemed university. (Burhaan Kinu/HT Photo)

“We have submitted all documents, correspondence and RTI replies we had to the magistrate and demanded an immediate solution to our problem. He assured us of chalking out a plan soon,” Dhruv Kumar, a student of FDDI said.

City magistrate Bacchu Singh said that the government plans to convert the college into a deemed university.

“We are exploring all possibilities to safeguard the future of the students of FDDI,” the city magistrate said.

FDDI students staged violent protests at Sector 62 campus in Noida on April 21 in which they damaged government property and overturned buses. (Burhaan Kinu/HT Photo)

Meanwhile, the college administration also called a meeting of students and urged them to end the strike.

“We will not end the strike till we get a valid degree. The college authorities have been fooling us for the last six months,” Saumya Kumar, a student of FDDI, said.

On April 21, students of FDDI staged a violent protest and vandalised the college office. They had also overturned buses and vandalised cars parked in the campus.

In September last year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had struck down the FDDI’s MoU with Mewar University, citing it as invalid, which resulted in derecognition of degrees issued by the college.