Bundelkhand University hikes fee by 20 to 90%. Many students say they may have to give up studies
The university administration says it’s a routine decision. But this has come as a big blow to the students who live in a region that’s considered to be one of the most backward in Uttar Pradesh
Chandrashekhar Sumit Daangi, 22, a resident of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, has just completed B.Sc in Agriculture from Bundelkhand University. He now wants to pursue M.Sc in agriculture, but he has not yet filled his admission form because of the fee hike declared by the university.
Sumit’s younger sister has appeared for the Class 12th examination with biology majors this year. Sumit, the only graduate in his family, had wanted to help his sister get enrolled for the B.Pharma course, but due to the increased fee, they may have to settle for B.Sc (Biology) instead. Sumit’s father is a labourer and owns a small 4-5-acre land. The family survives on this.
Bundelkhand is economically one of the most backward regions of Uttar Pradesh. These days, the students here are more stressed about the fee hike than the coronavirus pandemic. The university administration has increased the fee of all courses for the new session by 20-90%.
For instance, the annual fee of the B.Tech course was Rs 67,050, which has been increased to Rs 85,000 for the fresh batch of 2020-2021. Similarly, the first-year annual fee of M.Sc (agriculture), in which Sumit has to take admission, was about Rs 31,000 and has been increased to about Rs 42,000. The BA-LLB (integrated) fee was earlier Rs 16,050 that has now almost doubled to Rs 30,250. Similarly, the fees for other courses have also increased.
The university administration claims that the decision to hike fees was taken by the university’s finance committee as a part of their routine process. The financial committee was asked in February, 2020 to assess the economic conditions of the university and submit a report on the revision of the fee. Based on the recommendation of the finance committee report, the university has announced a fee hike for students seeking admission in the new session on May 8, 2020.
The students say that due to the increased fees, they will not be able to take admission in the courses of their choice and will have to be satisfied with admission in courses like BA and B.Sc. There are also many students who say that they may have to give up studies altogether because the new fee structure has also hiked the fees for general courses like BA and B.Sc.
One such student is Manvendra, who has appeared for Class 12 exams this year. Manvendra, 18, a resident of Chargaon, Jhansi, wants to seek admission in the BA-LLB integrated course, the fees for which has almost doubled from Rs 16,500 to Rs 30,000. Manvendra, whose father is a farmer, says that it is very difficult for him to study further because his family does not have the money to bear such a high fee.
In a telephonic conversation with Gaon Connection, Manvendra said: “This time our urad and paddy crops were ruined due to the hail storm. Because of the lockdown, urea, and other fertilisers, have become costlier. It is extremely difficult for me to meet domestic and farming expenses. How do we then pay such a high fee?”
Manvendra says while it is understandable for the fee to be increased marginally, doubling the fee doesn’t make any sense. On the question of studying elsewhere, he said that he has no other option than the Bundelkhand University. All the colleges in the adjoining districts are affiliated with the Bundelkhand University. One cannot go anywhere outside Bundelkhand because then it would be even more expensive.
“If we had money, we could have gone anywhere for studies. Now, the fee has gone up so much that I don’t even feel like filling up the admission form because if I am unable to seek admission then why waste money on purchasing and filling up the admission form!” said a distraught Manvendra.
More than a dozen professional and non-professional courses are taught at the Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. Hundreds of degree colleges in nearby half a dozen districts, including Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Orai, Lalitpur and Jalaun, are affiliated to the university. Overall, this university is a sound and major option for the students from the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.
Thousands of students from the region have written to the minister of higher education, the chief minister and the governor in this regard and lodged their protest against the fee hike and appealed to the vice-chancellor to order for revoking the fee hike. Many students have used Jan Sunwai, a portal initiated for common citizens by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as a medium of their protest and put up their issues and grievances there. Some have spoken to the government and the public representatives by trending #WeOppose_BU_Decision and #BU_FEE_HIKE on social media, especially on Twitter.
Aakash Parashar, the president of the NCUI, Bundelkhand region, who is pursuing M.Sc in Horticulture from the university, said: “Due to the prevalent corona pandemic and the lockdown, we students are putting our point across through Twitter. If the university does not withdraw its decision to hike fees, we would also take to protesting upon the roads as soon as the lockdown opens. Raising fees in the times of coronavirus is a gross inhuman act.”
He added: “The university facilities are not improving. There is filth on its campus. Adequate drinking water is not available. Contractual faculty is hired to teach us in colleges and at the university. I demand to know in the name of which facility the fees are being increased.”
The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has also expressed its opposition to the decision of fee hike by the university. Ajay Yadav, the Sangathan Mantri of the ABVP, who is pursuing B.Tech from the university, said: “The fee-hike decision taken by the Bundelkhand University in this economically backward region is the height of arbitrariness.” He also said that if the demands of students are not met with, the agitation would take to the roads.
As per the reports by Amar Ujala and Dainik Jagran, some students had sent a letter, penned in blood, to the governor as a symbolic protest against the university’s decision. Abhay Pratap Singh of Bundelkhand Chatra Sangarsh Sangh, along with several other students, had handed over the letter to the district magistrate of Jhansi and demanded to roll back the decision of fee hike. They also demanded to increase the last date for form fill-up, and waiving off the hostel fee for three months in the Bundelkhand University and its affiliated colleges.
The demand of the students has also been endorsed by Charkhari MLA Brahbhushan Rajput and Jhansi MLA Ravi Sharma. They had said that in the present situation of the lockdown, the increase is nothing but a major burden on students and their parents. The university administration should withdraw this decision immediately.
When Gaon Connection spoke to the university administration in this regard, it was told that the process had begun in February itself, so it was not advisable to link it with the corona lockdown. Vivek Agarwal, the head of the university’s admission cell, told Gaon Connection over the phone that the Bundelkhand University fee is the lowest in the entire state and that they take the fee as an annual fee — not every semester, but only once a year. Therefore, it is a little incomprehensible to hear the students opposing the ‘increased fee’.
He, however, added that the students’ opposition to the fee hike is in the cognisance of the university administration and soon the university may constitute a high-level committee and take an appropriate decision regarding the increase. Till then, he has appealed to the students to fill up the forms and take part in the admission process so that a precious year of their career is not wasted.