Although MIC today took the university to task for giving students only that one day off, the management of the university had earlier issued a notice agreeing to exempt Indian students from attending classes in the two ensuing days after October 18.
This means students do not have to attend lectures and tutorials on Oct 19 and 20.
“Academic staff are advised not to hold any quizzes and tests for students in the three days,” said the memo sighted by FMT dated October 11 and signed by Unisel registrar Shamsul Azhar Mohd Yusof.
Earlier today, MIC youth chief Sivaraajh Chandran criticised Unisel for allowing students to take only a single day off during the festival.
He said the decision to hold classes in the two days immediately after Deepavali was discriminatory.
“We understand that the university gave one week of holidays during the Hari Raya and Chinese New Year celebration periods, so there is no justification as to why it can’t extend the same courtesy to its Indian students, as Deepavali is also a major celebration in the Malaysian festivity calendar,” he had said.
Sivaraajh added that one Indian student had sent a letter of appeal on Oct 9 requesting for a full three-day break but that Unisel had yet to respond.
Last year, students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) complained over the convocation date fixed just a day before the Deepavali public holiday.
Graduating students who were observing the celebration said the date was inconvenient to those who wanted to attend the convocation ceremony but were living outside Penang.
Also last year, the organiser of the Penang Run came under fire from Gerakan and DAP for being allegedly insensitive by scheduling the event the morning after Deepavali, which fell on October 29, 2016.
Organiser Andrew Loh Lean Hock apologised but said the run would carry on as 1,780 people had already registered by then.
“I would like to apologise to Penang Indians for organising the event on a day after Deepavali,” he said, adding he could not however upset the registered runners.