Students protest in front of the institute. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, July 24: Agitated students of Al Kabir Polytechnic Institute today sat on a dharna on the road and shouted slogans protesting against the three-year delay in conducting the final examination.

The institute, run by the state science and technical education board, offers a 3-year technical degree and the final examination is held in every May. But the tests, passing which will award the students a certificate, have not been conducted since 2004.

Protesting against the delay, about 500 students of the institute today sat on a dharna on the Mango-Azadnagar road. Later, the students assembled on the campus and decided to take the agitation ?further?, if the authorities concerned do not act ?before it is too late?.

A student of 2001 batch of the polytechnic, Ashish Kumar, said: ?My final examinations were supposed to be held in May 2004, but it has not been held though dates were announced three times.?

Another student, Asraful Haque, told The Telegraph that many final year students got job offers after a campus selection, held four months ago. ?But they might now lose the offers, if the board fails to conduct the tests and give us the certificates, which is basically the proof of us having done the course,? he added.

The students have decided to approach the high court if the issue is not resolved. They will send a delegation to East Singhbhum deputy commissioner tomorrow and also approach the relevant science and technology department officials ? including minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary, secretary A.K. Basu ? and Governor Syed Sibtey Razi.

Principal of the institute Zamil Kaiser said repeated transfers in the ministry had delayed the examinations as the official concerned was never posted long enough in the chair to organise the test.

Efforts to contact the board officials were unsuccessful.