Cuttack: Coming down heavily on Ravenshaw University authorities for the hike in fees of application forms for UG and PG admissions, the Ravenshaw Vikash Abhijan (RBA) has urged the authorities to withdraw the increased fee and stop “converting” the university to a business unit.
“Fees of application forms for UG and PG courses have been increased from Rs 300 to Rs 500 this year. Similarly, such fees have been increased from Rs 500 to 1,000 for MPhil and from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for PhD admissions. When people of the State have been severely hit by Cyclone Fani, the increase in application fees is only a mockery of poor meritorious students,” alleged RBA members at a Press conference here.
Stating that the cost of application form was only Rs 50 when it was a college, they wanted to know the justification behind increasing application and admission fees every year by the Ravanshaw University authorities.
“The Ravenshaw College was upgraded to a university with an aim to further enhance quality education imparted by it. But the very objective has failed as efforts are being made to commercialise the institute. Apart from increasing fees, many regular courses have been changed into self-financing ones, adding to the woes of students and parents,” lamented they.
They demanded that all self-financing courses be made regular ones and steps be taken for holding Students’ Union elections to protect the democratic rights of the students to have a say in the development matters of the university. They called upon intellectuals of the State to come forward to raise voice against such acts of the authorities.
Among others, RBA president Chittaranjan Mohant and secretary Siddharth Rath, Sangrami Forum convenor Prashan Das, former president Akshaya Das, slum leader Khageshwar Sethi, social worker Enamul Haque and former Ravenshaw secretary Pavel Priyadarshan were present.
