Hundreds of students on Tuesday night staged protest on India’s largest IIT campus against the Union HRD Ministry’s decision’s to hike the fees from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,00,000.
Over 400 students protested on IIT Kharagpur campus demanding the HRD Ministry to rollback the hike.
A message posted by students from IIT Kharagpur said, “The institute witnessed a concerned gathering coming out in protest on Tuesday against the recent tuition fee hike by the MHRD. Over 400 students were part of the peaceful demonstration starting at 7:15 PM , marching from the Gymkhana to the GolC. They demanded that the fee hike, from rupees 90,000 to rupees 2,00,000 per annum, be rolled back.
“They also expressed their grief with respect to the hike being imposed on the current batch of students. VP Atal Ashutosh Agarwal addressed the gathering and called for a coherent and united effort from the protesters.Students from all the years came to the fore and energetically vocalized their opinions and grievances, before disbanding at 8:30.”
The HRD ministry last week had given approval to the recommendation made by an IIT panel to increase the IIT fees from Rs 90,000 to Rs 200,000.
An IIT panel last month had recommended increasing the fees for IIT students.
The decision had been widely criticised with Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, himself an IITian, having said that he wouldn’t have been able to study at the premier institute if the fees were hiked earlier.
IIT Roorkee students too have planned to stage similar and ‘peaceful’ protest on their campus on Thursday.
Meanwhile, students from IIT Kharagpur have also written to the HRD Ministry reiterating their demand to withdraw the decision to hike the fees. The protest is likely to gain momentum as students from other IIT campuses too plan to join the agitation against Irani.
Here is the letter being planned to sent to Irani from students of IIT Kharagpur.
From,
Undergraduate Students,
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Subject : Tuition fee hike for current students
Respected Sir/Madam,
We, the students of IIT community were informed yesterday, that the tuition fee hike will be in effect for current undergraduate students as well, from the academic year 2016-2017. The new fee structure (2 lakh tuition fee per year) is a significant raise from the current fees students pay, and this change has caused great worry to many students, across all IITs. Despite interest free loans and monetary help via scholarships, the fee hike will prove to be a grave burden to current students, as we did not opt into this fee structure. At the time of joining IITs, we were unaware of this possibility, and many of us already have loans to pay the current fees. Even when tuition fees were raised in the past, they were not increased for students who were already studying at IITs at the time. We don’t understand why a deviation is being made, from this policy for the current fee hike.
We, the students of IIT Kharagpur, <insert other IIT names> are of the opinion that the fee hike for students already studying at IITs, is unfair and that it must be reverted to the fee structure that we have been paying till now.
Earnestly waiting for a reply.
Yours faithfully,
Atal Ashutosh Agarwal
Vice President
Technology Students’ Gymkhana,
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur