In a shocking move, a private medical college in Uttarakhand on Monday announced a hike in fees by upto 300 percent, leading to massive protests by students. The development comes in wake of the free hand given by the Uttarakhand government to private colleges in the state to decide on the fee structure of undergraduate and post-graduate students, reported The Indian Express.
The development relates to Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical & Health Sciences, a private institute, which effected the MBBS tuition fee for the first year to Rs 19.76 lakh from Rs 5 lakh. The first year fee for post-graduation courses, including MD in General Medicine, has also been hiked from Rs 7.38 lakh to Rs 26.6 lakh.
The university has 650 medical students in undergraduate courses and a total of 102 students in post-graduate courses. The move created mayhem among the students who later launched a protest in the college against the decision taken by the authority.
A first-year MBBS student from the college was quoted as saying that number of students had taken loans to pay the fees. The first year students paid Rs 5 lakh, while now they are being asked to pay the revised fee (over Rs 20 lakh) for the second year, the student said. The students need to pay an additional Rs 15 lakh to match the Rs 19.76 lakh fee of the first year, the student added. Following the announcement, the anguished students launched a protest in the college, demanding that the authorities withdraw the decision.
The authorities of the university in their statement said that the matter regarding the institute’s autonomy in deciding fee structure was in the Uttarakhand High Court at the time of admissions last year. According to them, the students at the time had signed affidavits stating that once the matter is resolved by the court, they would pay the fee as decided by the institute.
The college administration now says that the students’ demand for wthdrawal of the fee hike is illegitimate and has denied the possibility of a rollback.