STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati may witness a sharp hike in its hostel fees.
The IIT Council, headed by Human Resource Development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, on Friday decided to hand over the management of hostels of IITs across the country to private players, raising the possibility of a sharp hike in hostel fees.
“The experiment of running hostels in the public private partnership (PPP) mode will be done first at IIT Delhi. If the experiment is successful in Delhi, all other IITs will have to start running their hostels on PPP mode. Under such situation the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati will also have to increase its hostel fees,” a source in State Education department said.
Sources said the Indian Institute of Technology Council has felt that heavy hostel subsidies are driving up costs and preventing the tech schools from upgrading their hostels. Students across all IITs pay a monthly hostel fee in between Rs 1,500 to Rs 1800. Hotels fees for SC, ST and OBC students are very minimal.
Members in the IIT Council have advocated PPP management as it would be a good idea because the teachers’ current responsibilities to administer the hostels eat into their research time.
According to a preliminary estimate the monthly hostel fee per boarder would rise in between Rs 4500 & Rs 5,000. The government may give stipends to impoverished students.
The Indian Institute of Technology Council has also approved the building and running of new hostels by private players under a build-operate model. A former teacher of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati said entry of private players in hostel management will prove detrimental for impoverished students from studying in the IITs, which are residential campuses.
“Unlike the Indian Institutes of Management, students from cross sections of the society study at IITs. I am afraid the development may convert the IITs into institutions only for the elite,” the teacher said.