After the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) fee hike issue, now, it's IIT Delhi's turn. To recall, students of IIT-B protested and agitated for nearly a month and emerged victorious in rolling back the fee hike. Similarly, students of IIT Delhi have now started their fight against the fee hike by the university.
A statement issued by the Twitter handle @against_fee_hik (IIT Delhi Students Against Fee Hike) stated that the institute has hiked the semester fee for MTech students by 100 per cent — from Rs 26,450 to Rs 53,000. Additionally, there's an increase in this year's semester tuition fee by 150 per cent from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. Fighting against this, the students of IIT Delhi are staging a sit-in protest in front of the administration building of the institute.
When EdexLive spoke to an IIT Delhi student, who wishes to stay anonymous, they said that the gathering of students started on August 17. Here are a few important dates, mentioned by the student, and what transpired:
August 17: 20 to 25 students gathered to talk to the Dean of Student Affairs at IIT Delhi
August 18: A Senate meeting was held with five Deans of Student Affairs from different departments, two student representatives, five first-year students of MTech and Director Prof Rangan Banerjee
Post this meeting, a committee to review the fee hike was formed. But with no proper response from the committee, 250-300 emails were sent by the students to the college administration against the fee hike.
August 26: Another Senate meeting was held, which included five Deans of Student Affairs from different departments, two student representatives and five first-year students of MTech
Talking about what was discussed in the meeting, the student said, "The administration gave us vague answers, just saying that the fee would be reduced." But by how much? he asked. "When asked about the lesser fees charged by other IITs, the administration stated that every IIT works on its own principles and different funding policies," he added. Moreover, the student opined that the administration was inclined toward the institute as it is observed that the administration was not willing to reduce the fees.
Additionally, another MTech first-year student who wishes to stay anonymous, pointed out that "the institute is not providing hostel facilities for the first years. And even if it is provided to PhD or other BTech students, the total expenses for one semester is amounting to Rs 1 lakh as against a very low stipend of Rs 12,400 per month."
With what seemed like no proper clarified assurances given by the administration, students organised a mass gathering on August 31 and started protesting against the fee hike. The first-year student said, "100-200 students participated on Day 1 of the protest on August 31 from 1 pm to 5 pm. While Day 2 of the protest on September 1, which started at 12 noon, saw more than 200 students join in."
The anonymous student informed us that in an informal meeting with a professor, the professor informed students that the fees would be reduced. On the contrary, the student says that there were no assurances given on how much.
So what are the next steps for the students? The student said that they will continue the sit-in protest till they hear back from the administration about reducing the fee. Additionally, first-year students said, "On September 3, President of India Droupadi Murmu will be visiting the campus for an institute-related event. So protesting now builds more pressure on the administration." If the administration doesn't respond within this time, we will plan what to do next, he added.
But were the students aware of the fee hike before?
The first-year student and the anonymous student said that during the counselling process, between June to August, all the first-year joiners of the MTech programme were aware of the hike in fees. Referring to the IIT Bombay fee hike incident, where the administration rolled back the fee hike following a month-long agitation by students, the IIT Delhi first-year MTech students started their fight against their fee hike.