LSR professors crowdfund over Rs 3L for Aishwariya Reddy's family

New delhi: In a bid to help the family of Aishwarya Reddy, a second-year student of Lady Shri Ram College, who killed herself over the financial burden of higher education, around 100 teachers from the college have transferred over Rs 3.2 lakh to the student's family.

According to a professor at LSR, they wanted to help the family and decided to pool in money, without attracting attention. Through this initiative, they said the amount was collected and sent over to the family. The LSR student groups and alumni groups had earlier promised to help the family monetarily as Aishwarya's parents wanted to educate their younger daughter.

The 19-year-old undergraduate student had died by suicide at her home town in Telangana allegedly due to financial and academic stress. Her parents said her stress had worsened after the college asked around 150 students to vacate the hostel.

Her father, a mechanic, who lost his business post-lockdown, did not have the money to pay for her ticket. Meanwhile, under pressure from students protesting and demanding changes in the hostel policies, the administration announced measures, including a reduction in fees for select courses, establishing a committee on laptop distribution, while also allowing a few second-year students to live in the hostel.