Our Bureau
Guwahati
Echoes of protest were heard in IIT Guwahati’s campus this Tuesday on July 22nd as hundreds of research scholars and MTech students gathered to demand the reduction of the ‘exceptionally high’ hike in fee. Students and researchers protested against this hike saying, “Kam karo, kam karo, fee hike kam karo (Reduce fee hike).”
This year the fee structure at the institution has been changed and there has been a hike in fees not only for PhD students but for students who have been pursuing BTech and MTech courses. The students started protesting against the fee hikes last afternoon and it slowly gained momentum overnight as students gathered together to show support.
As per the reports there was an open house discussion held last week in which the administration was willing to listen to the students. However it just turned out to be a technique they used to buy time so that the day of registration for next semester came close.
The registration date was 22nd July for the next semester but when the research scholars reached their respective departmental officers, they were allegedly prohibited from registering for the semester. They were told that they can’t register because of non-payment of the semester registration fee. This became the main reason behind the protests.
Students have alleged that the institution is expecting the students to pay an enormous amount in fees for the next semester. As per the sources from IIT Guwahati, the institution has increased the fee amount of PhD students by Rs 10,900 for the upcoming July-November semester. They have increased the fees from Rs 34,800 to Rs 45,700. The fee for the part-time scholars has also been increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 25,000 per semester.
