Students' Federation of India Assam State Committee opposes Fee Hike at University Level
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the country’s economy.
GUWAHATI: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the country's economy. In such a situation, when the entire country is reeling under the impact of the pandemic, Tezpur University decided to increase fees. Students' Federation of India (SFI), Assam State committee has vehemently opposed the hike in fees and demanded immediate roll back.
SFI Assam State committee general secretary Nirangkush Nath stated in a press release, "In the light of the pandemic and the economic distress in the country, the University Grant Commission has asked universities and colleges to be sympathetic regarding fees payment and if feasible, may consider offering alternative payment options to students till the situation returns to normal. But Tezpur University paid no heed to the UGC directive. Instead, the University administration is being ruthless in their approach and have hiked various fees to Rs 1200-Rs 2000 across various courses."
Based on the University website notifications, the University Administration has increased the PhD fees by Rs.1,350, Integrated MSc by Rs 2,000, Integrated M. Com by Rs1,200 and MA and M Com by Rs 1,500. The increase has been on Library, Health, Laboratory, Electricity, Research Development front.
Nath said, "Students have not been in the campus due to COVID lockdown. In such a situation, increase on the above mentioned categories makes no logical sense. Logically, the students should have been paying less fees as the cost of consumables have decreased due to lockdown. Further, the notice for fee payment was issued on July 30, which happens to be a Friday. Students got only two working days to pay the fees. In other words, the students were asked to pay the fees by August 4."
"More than 200 research scholars of the University have not been able to pay their fees till date. The financial crisis of the students have become a reality as various fellowships like NET-JRF, ICSSR etc are not being disbursed timely due to the pandemic. Further, even the Institutional Fellowships are not being disbursed timely. The students' Council of Tezpur University tried taking up the matter to the administration, but the administration is adamant on their position of insensitivity," said Nath.
Also Read: SFI urges Assam government to increase the number of seats in colleges
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