Ranchi, March 26: Students of information management (IM) at Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) went on an indefinite strike today in protest against the XISS management’s alleged apathy.

The agitating students locked the main gate of institute blocking the entry of officials. All classes of personal management (PM) and rural management (RM) were cancelled. According to IM students, the course is not an affiliated one and the management has done nothing other than giving assurances.

Aman (name changed), one of the students, said: “Ours is the sixth, batch but we are still waiting for affiliation from the AICTE (All-India Council for Technical Education). The management has been fooling us for a long time saying the course would be affiliated soon. But nothing has been done till now.”

Students said they had requested the management several times to approach AICTE for affiliation. Sarika (not her real name) said: “On March 16 this year, an AICTE team visited the institute. The management said they had come for the extension of PM and RM courses and added that the affiliation issue, however, was the top priority. But, we found out later that the management had brought up only the extension issue. If this is their attitude, we have no other option but to fight back. Our future is in jeopardy. We are very worried.”

The students sat in front of the main gate today and shouted slogans against XISS authorities. They said the management was “blackmailing” them. XISS officials tried to talk to the students to work out a compromise, but the students did not relent. Another student said: “There are 130 students in the course. The course fee is Rs 1.02 lakh. If we don’t get a job after paying such a lot, what is the use of all this?”

“Not a single company has turned up for campus recruitment yet. We got in touch with two call centres and requested them to come here. We advice youngsters not to take admission here. Their careers will be destroyed,” said a student.

Asked why they took admission when they knew the course was not affiliated, the students said the XISS management had promised that the affiliation would come through within 2 months. “Since XISS is a reputed institute, we trusted their word. But they have duped us,” said Sumit (name changed).

The management refused to comment. XISS director Beni Ekka was out of town. Assistant director Benjamin Lakra said: “I am not authorised to answer the question.” The management has agreed to convene a meeting of the board of directors on April 10.

The students said all classes would be suspended till then. “We are not going to back down. The management has to take this seriously. The future of 130 students depends on this.”