Fee hike proposal worries engineering students in Karnataka

Though the Karnataka government is planning to hold a meeting to discuss the demand of private engineering college managements to increase fees in the second week of September, students are unhappy with the proposal. 

Karnataka Higher Education Minister CN Ashwathnarayan had said, “While fee revision takes place every year for medical and dental courses, there has been no revision of fees for engineering courses in the past three years.” The Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association has asked for fees to be increased by around 30 per cent, while Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association secretary Shafi Ahmed said colleges under their umbrella had demanded a 25 per cent increase in fee. 

As per a report published in The New Indian Express, students under the aegis of All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) have opposed any proposal to increase fees for engineering courses. They said the government was planning to increase the fee of engineering courses by 10 per cent, complying with the demand of “profit-minded private management lobby”. 

Colleges increased fee last year, claim students 

They said despite collecting full fees from students, the private management lobby failed to pay salaries to lecturers and staff and some received just 30 per cent of their wages. Contradicting the Education Department’s claims, students said that fee was hiked by 10 per cent a year ago. 

They further said the lockdown and its aftermath had made engineering and medical education more expensive and exclusive only for the privileged, further alienating poor and middle class aspirants. 

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