BANGALORE, JAN 11: No other state in India can beat Karnataka for its rare `gift' of turning higher education into a racket. Its notoriety is gauged by the extent of greed and exploitation taking place in the Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Sciences. So much so that a student even attempted suicide.In the four Bachelor of Dental Sciences (BDS) batches in the college, there are no merit students. All of them were admitted under the management quota after shelling out an upward of Rs 5 lakh each for their admission. The 1997-98 batch runs with 60 such students, which means a neat Rs 3 crore from a single batch.Surely then, life must be easy for these students. But that is not the case.Out of the 60 students, the State government allowed only 7 students appear for their examinations on the ground that the rest were excess admissions. Meaning, the rest not only lost a year but also their money!But the `money extraction racket' does not end with the admission. Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, somestudents said that each of them were asked to pay for the college's `expansion' work. The management does this just when the examinations are approaching. In effect, they blackmail students by saying that only those who pay would get admission tickets. As for hostel facilities for students hailing from some other state, they are accommodated in hostels run by the college. Definitely not out of consideration. They have to compulsorily get enrolled in the hostel.The monthly hostel fee for each student is a minimum of Rs 2,000. There are cases where it has even gone up to an unbelievable Rs 25,000. While the boys' hostel is at Vasanthnagar, the girls' hostels is at Cholanayakanahally which is nearer to the college. The boys' hostel at Vasanthnagar is a shabby, ramshackle, two-storey structure stacked with 48 boys.Six boys each are piled in a narrow compartment-like rooms. With rooms so small and room enough for just two cots, two boys sleep on the cots while the remaining four have to sleep on the floor.And for the entire group of 48 boys share two toilets.The condition of girls' hostels is worse. Around 100 girls stay in five rented houses which has no security arrangements. Hostel girls said that a management man entrusted with the "supervision" of girls' hostels was in the habit of coming to the hostel at unearthly hours. They added, several times they have found themselves in an awkward situation as the man chances upon them in their unguarded moments.Another matter that warrants mention is that the students have to compulsorily travel in the college bus. The rules are the same for those who live close to the college or have bikes. This of course means another Rs 2,000 per student every month.This is a State where there are supervising universities and as many as four ministers for education - one of them specifically for medical education!
