Tags:
Journalism of Courage
With Panjab University Syndicate set to take the fee structure issue and increase in number of seats in various departments in its meeting on April 10, many senate members and students feel the proposed fee hike will increase the burden on students.
A committee, last month, had approved a 10 per cent hike in fee for new entrants and 5 per cent for existing students from 2019-20 academic session. Talking to Chandigarh Newsline, PU senator Subhash Sharma said that the syndicate should not give its nod when they discuss the matter.
“I have many times raised this issue that University should explore other options for revenue generation rather than hike in fee every year,” Sharma said.
Syndicate will take up the issue of fee hike in BDS and MDS courses in Institute of Dental Science hospital PU. Subhash Sharma said that for self-financing departments 10 per cent hike means a lot. “For Dental College students who are paying Rs 4.5 lakhs, 10 per cent means an increase of 45,000 thousands,” he said.
Akshaya Kumar, Professor in English department of the University, also believes that a government university cannot increase fee exponentially. “The university is obliged to provide education at reasonable costs and if the students are competing to get admission here then why they will pay hefty amounts of money,” he said. “It has become a trend for the University to increase the fee every year. There is no resistance from students against these steps,” Senator Rubindernath Sharma said. “University is already reeling under faculty crunch and they are increasing seats in various courses. If you do not have enough faculty to teach students then how can you do justice to more students,” he added.
Navdeep a UIET student told Newsline that increasing fee is not a permanent solution and it indirectly bars students from getting education. “This is one of the oldest universities of the country. Even people from distant places come here. So the university must not increase burden on students rather explore other ways for revenue generation,” Navdeep says.
Justifying the the move, Chairperson University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor Kanwaljeet said, “The fee in our department is already half of that paid by those studying Pharmaceutical Sciences in other colleges and Universities of the region pay. We bring students the best facilities and equipment and we do not have funds. Hence we proposed for fee hike in B. Pharma students.”
Students For Society (SFS) in its statement condemned the proposal passed for differential fee hike across the departments of Panjab University. “The authorities are pushing commercialization agenda in a very tricky manner to avoid resistance. We reiterate that education is not a commodity to sell in the market while increasing its prices as per inflation rates. We condemn the Central and State government working in interest of the elite to privatise higher educational institutes to suck out every penny from the pockets of a common man,” the statement read.
