Students in Karnataka's government engineering colleges will have to pay more for this year. The state government has increased the fees in Government engineering colleges for the 2021-22 academic year by Rs 10,000, The Hindu reported. According to a note issued by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), Rs 10,000 has been added under the ‘other fees’ head. Overall, students will have to pay Rs 33,810 this year onwards.
Sources in the Higher Education Department said that the colleges under it were allowed to hike their fees by Rs 10,000 to upgrade the necessary infrastructure. “For several years, the fees in government engineering colleges were not hiked. Engineering colleges had to wait for funds from the government if they had to upgrade their infrastructure. As a result of this, many government engineering colleges had obsolete laboratories and dilapidated classrooms,” a source in the department reportedly said.
Several students were taken by surprise as the notification was issued on November 30, after the first round of seat allotment. An engineering seat aspirant, Shreyas S, reportedly said, “Majority of students from middle-class families who have toiled hard will be eyeing seats in government engineering colleges through the CET counselling. Even a marginal hike in fees will make professional education out of their reach." Incidentally, the fees for government quota and private quota seats in private engineering colleges were not hiked this year. Student organisations have questioned the hike in the fees of government colleges during the pandemic.