ABVP morcha against B.Ed fee rise

“The revised B.Ed fee structure with a hike as high as 200 per cent announced by the government will not go down well with the students, most of whom come from poor families,” ABVP vice president R Shetkar told Express Newsline. As a result of the hike, the annual cost of a free seat’ has increased from Rs 3000 to Rs 8000 in the 47 aided institutes; while the payment seats in non-aided colleges have shot up from Rs 12,500 to Rs 20,000. The fee hike will affect over 15000 students in 142 B.Ed institutes spread across the state. “The students were not consulted before executing this quantum rise,” the activists alleged.

They further said that the individual managements could have raised the amounts through sponsorships and charities. When contacted, however, Minister Datta Rane said: “As per the norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC), for a standard batch of 80 B.Ed students there has to be eight teachers, one librarian and at least two non-teaching staff. So we had to revise the fees to keep up with the present day expenditure.”