Reverse 10% hike in engineering fees, says student organisation

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) on Friday condemned the decision to increase the fee for government quota seats in engineering colleges by 10 per cent, demanding that the decision be reversed. AIDSO State Secretary Ajay Kamath said that poorer students shouldn’t bear the brunt of the fee hike.

“AIDSO Karnataka State Committee demands the current State government to immediately abandon the decision of increasing the engineering fees and calls upon all students, parents, and education loving people to raise their voice against this anti-people policy of the government,” he said.

In 2022, private engineering college managements held a meeting with the Higher Education Department and the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) and put forward a proposal to increase the fees of government quota seats in private engineering colleges and the fees of private engineering colleges by 10 percent every year. Accordingly, the fee was increased by 10 per cent for the 2022-23 academic year. “At that time, state students and AIDSO had opposed the fee hike.

As a continuation of the same undemocratic decision, the current state government has agreed to increase the fees by 10 per cent in the present academic year and it has said that confusion will be created if the decision of the previous government is reversed. This move of the state government has dampened the dreams of poor meritorious students of the state,” Kamath added.