IIT Kharagpur students protest fee hike, Roorkee likely to follow

According to students, despite expressing their concerns earlier, the HRD Ministry refused to pay heed to their requests for hiking the fee.

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Picture for representation. Photo: PTI
Picture for representation. Photo: PTI

A large number of students at IIT Kharagpur staged a peaceful protest against the Human Resource Development Ministry's decision to hike the fee structure from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,00,000. Students demanded the HRD Ministry not impose the hike on the current students.

According to students, despite expressing their concerns earlier, the HRD Ministry refused to pay heed to their requests for hiking the fee.

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"The sudden increase in the fee structure is a grave burden on several students. This might discourage and hamper several talents," a student Atul Ashutosh Agarwal said

Following the protests at the Kharagpur campus, IIT Roorkee students are also planning to stage similar 'peaceful' protest in their campus.

However, some reports suggest that Education Minister Smriti Irani had already clarified that the hike will be applicable only to new students and not existing ones.

The HRD ministry last week had given approval to the recommendation made by the standing committee of IIT Council (SCIC) to increase the IIT fees from Rs 90,000 to Rs 200,000.

According to reports, Irani has also promised a complete tuition fee waiver for the backward class and physically challenged students studying at the premier technology institutions

The decision had been widely criticised with Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who said that said that he wouldn't have been able to study at the premier institute if the fees were hiked earlier. Kejriwal himself is an IITian.

Also read: IITs hike fee from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh per year