KATHMANDU: Thirteen students’ unions affiliated to different political parties today submitted a joint memorandum to Joint-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of Tribhuvan University (TU), urging them to withdraw the decision taken by the varsity’s Academic Council to phase out Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL) from this year.

Speaking to this daily after handing over the memorandum, Pradeep Poudel, president of the Nepal Students’ Union, said they had asked Joint-Chancellor and Ministry of Education Ram Chandra Kushbaha and Vice-Chancellor Dr Madhav Prasad Sharma to withdraw the decision as it was against the interest of students. “We will hand over a memorandum to the Chancellor too. But it the decision is not withdrawn, we will launch stern protest against the TU and the government,” Poudel warned. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is the Chancellor of the university. Saying that the government has also relented to the student’s pressure, Poudel urged the varsity officials to withdraw the decision before protest programmes were announced.

“If the TU did not open admission for the PCL level, we will be forced to distribute the admission forms from different colleges on our own,” Poudel said.

Those handing over the memorandum were All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary, NSU and All Nepal National Free Students Union among others.