Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Increasing IIT fee is a condemnable act, must not be allowed: Would be more than triple the existing annual fee

The decision to increase the annual fee of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the country, is a condemnable move.

The move is to raise the existing fee of Rs 90,000 per year to 3 lakh, which is more than trebling the fee [233% hike].

This unjust and totally wrong decision, which will affect the students coming from the poor and under-privileged families.

The standing committee of the IIT council (SCIC) has accepted the expert panel's proposal of raising the fee.

The SCIC is a sub-committee of the IIT council, which is the decision making body of 22 premier engineering colleges.

But, the final decision will be taken by Smriti Z Irani, the former TV star-turn-HRD minister who has been in the eye of a storm after her controversial role in the death of Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula.

Communist Party of India (CPI) has criticised the move and has said that it is a retrograde step that will affect families with poor economic condition. It has said that the decision would be opposed tooth and nail.

IITs are India's premier institutions and many of its students leave the country after graduation. This has been a cause of concern. Though IITs haven't come up with major or pathbreaking innovations, its alumni has achieved success in diverse spheres and has created the image of Indian engineers as efficient software engineers and nerds, in the West.

Representative photo, IIT, courtesy The Mint