While both the Department of Education and the Department of Correspondence Courses offer M.Ed. courses, the students alleged that the course offered by their department took an extra year to complete. This was a consequence of the rule of compulsory submission of dissertation im-posed on the students of the department. The agitating students today sat in dharna in front of the office of the Vice-Chancellor.

The president of the Panjab University Campus Students' Council (PUCSC), D.P.S. Randhawa, said that their council was fully supporting the demand and in case it was not met immediately, they would intensify the agitation. The general secretary of the council, Akhil Goyal also sat in dharna with the protesting students.

Students of the Department of Education alleged that their academic year runs into one year of study and another year of working on their dissertation, while the academic year of the students of Correspon-dence Courses is only one year as the students of Correspondence Courses are not required to submit a dissertation.

"With both degrees carrying equal weight, we are demanding that the dissertation should be made optional," Goyal stressed.