College is ruining students' lives - here's how

I don’t even know where to start. Being a student at St.Martin’s Engineering College, Secunderabad feels less like pursuing an education and more like surviving a nightmare. Every single day, I wake up wondering what new way the college will find to exploit us, threaten us, or humiliate us. And behind it all is the fact that this college is run by a politician, someone who has turned education into a money-making machine at the expense of students’ futures. Let me tell you what it’s like. The Threats Never Stop Imagine working hard to attend classes, struggling to keep up with assignments, and then being told your attendance is suddenly below 75%. Not because you didn’t show up, but because your faculty decided it’s time to squeeze more money out of you. “Pay the fine or face detention,” they say. ₹10,000 per subject if you fail an internal exam. And here’s the kicker—it’s always in cash. If you dare to ask for a receipt, they threaten you again. Thousands of students, year after year, are forced to pay cash fines like this. Think about where that money is going. It’s nothing but bribery on a massive scale, lining the pockets of one politician while students suffer. Forced to Buy Overpriced Books Every year, without fail, they shove a list of books in our faces and demand ₹12,500 in cash. No receipts, no explanations. Just hand over the money or face the consequences. I tried saying no once. They docked my lab marks and made it very clear that without those books, I would fail. It’s not about education—it’s extortion. Internships That Are Nothing but a Joke They call them “internships,” but what they really mean is another excuse to rob us. ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 in CASH, every single time. And if you ask to pay online or through any formal method? They direct you to a faculty member’s personal bank account. When questioned about receipts, they brush it off with a vague smile or a thinly veiled threat. It’s a system designed to exploit, not educate. Privacy? What Privacy? Do you carry a mobile phone to college? That’s an automatic ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 fine, even if you never use it. And sometimes, you’re suspended for good measure. But it doesn’t stop there. They’ll demand to see your phone, scroll through your personal chats, and humiliate you in front of everyone if you resist. It’s disgusting, invasive, and feels like a constant attack on our dignity. Pay for CRT or Suffer When you’re in your 3rd year, you’re forced to pay ₹13,000 to ₹15,000 for Campus Recruitment Training. If you don’t pay, they’ll make sure your 4th-year project doesn’t get approved. It’s not about preparing us for the future—it’s about making sure they milk us for every rupee before we leave. Faculty Who Don’t Care And through all this, the people who are supposed to guide us and teach us don’t even know their subjects. They spend more time intimidating us than teaching. If you dare to question them, you’re blacklisted and harassed even more. The Toll It Takes I’ve paid over ₹10 lakhs for four years of this “education.” Half of it was in cash. How do you even fight back when you’ve already sunk so much money into something you can’t escape? Dropping out isn’t an option for most of us because we’ve already invested so much. The worst part is what this does to you mentally. You walk into college every day wondering what new way they’ll find to humiliate or exploit you. You’re constantly stressed about money, marks, and your future. They’re supposed to prepare us for the world, but all they do is break us down. --- What Can Be Done? I don’t know what else to do but speak up. Maybe if enough people hear this, something will change. Maybe this post will reach someone who can help. If you’ve faced something similar or know where we can report this, please share. Is it possible to take legal action? Can we approach media outlets or regulatory bodies? The college is affiliated to JNTU. I’m asking for help because right now, it feels like we’re all just screaming into the void while they laugh their way to the bank. This isn’t education. This is extortion. And it needs to stop..