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Universities Should Not Ask For Unpaid Labor Work From The Students

Being students of media studies, the university often expects us to cover the events that are organized on campus in the form of photography and cinematography. In the first year of my Master’s degree course, it was entirely up to the students to decide whether they were interested in such promotional activities.

However, now it feels like it is being imposed upon us, especially in the form of an academic curriculum where the students are expected to only do assignments that glorify the university. Making promotional content part of the syllabus leaves no room for the students to question this non-judicious practice and also confines their scope of learning to a small space.

The students are often vulnerable to such unpaid labour work expectations from the universities. Although, it is called a “voluntary” thing, yet, I have also witnessed preferential treatment by the professors for the students who opt for such work. It is a sad truth that even the professors promote such activities for being in the good books of the authorities who are sitting at the top of the administrative hierarchy.

Public relations plays an important role in creating a positive image of the university. It is very evident that the universities can not afford to pay for the services of a PR agency. Thus, students are exploited by imposing unpaid labour work on them. This is not limited to promotional activities, as students are forcefully involved in many such small tasks which is hardly a part of the academic discourse.

It is high time that the governing bodies which look over the universities, like the Universities Grant Commission (UGC), make strict guidelines against exploiting students by asking for free work in the name of “Volunteering”! 

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