Don’t force students to pay full fee: AICTE to colleges

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has issued an advisory for engineering colleges across the country to follow certain instructions during the lockdown.

The technical education regulator said it was continuously getting grievances from the faculty and staff regarding termination of services, non-payment of salary, etc, and also from students regarding insistence by institutes for paying full-year/full-term fee in one go.

Allow students to pay fee in 3 or 4 installments

As per the guidelines, colleges should not insist on payment of full fee till normalcy is restored. It advised the colleges to collect fee in three or four equal installments. A press release said, “Accordingly, all colleges are directed to display this information on their website and also communicate the same to all the students through e-mail.”

The AICTE has issued several other instructions to institutions regarding the termination of teachers during the pandemic. “There shall be no termination of faculty without enough disciplinary ground & due process of redressal. Salary and other dues to the faculty/staff members shall be released monthly on time and also terminations (if any) made during the lockdown shall be withdrawn. This is to be complied strictly,” the release read.

The AICTE also recommended that due to the inability of certain students to access internet services, colleges were advised to allow students of other colleges in their vicinity to access the internet facility at their colleges.

The body discouraged spreading fake news on social media. It said, “Various interest groups/individuals are circulating fake news on social media platforms, thereby creating misinformation and rumours. Discouraging any such fake news and reporting the matter to authorities concerned would be the prime responsibility of all stakeholder.”

It said, “All colleges shall strictly adhere to these instructions, any instance of non-compliance reported to the council, if proved, shall attract severe penal action as per norms.”