A four-member team from the Mumbai unit of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) met Dr Vinod Patil, Director, Board of Examinations and Evaluation, University of Mumbai, on July 1 and urged him to implement the university's directive to not charge exam fees and next semester fees strongly. The students submitted a letter to Dr Patil after several colleges under the University of Mumbai allegedly pressurised their students to pay exam fees.
ABVP National Secretary, Aniket Ovhal, who also hails from Mumbai, said that there have been complaints of colleges threatening students to pay up even after the university has, in a circular, directed the colleges to not take fees. "In these times of crisis, it is a financial burden on the students. We are not saying that we will not pay the fees but once there is a decision on when and how the exams will happen they can ask for it. The universities across the country have not been able to decide on a date yet, owing to the pandemic, " he said. "These are mostly the privately run colleges that are asking for fees. We can understand that this his how they run and the funds are needed but there is no point in asking for exam fees when it is not sure when the exams will happen," said Aniket.
The ABVP also said that they have received numerous calls from the students complaining about alleged threats from the colleges, "One student was told that he will not be allowed to sit for the examination whenever they happen if he did not pay the fees now," he added.
The ABVP delegation led by Konkan State Secretary Prerna Pawar and Joint Secretary Amit Dhomse requested Dr Patil to reiterate the message to the colleges and make sure that the students are not threatened anymore. They also added that the colleges should be told not to ask for next semester fees as well because the commencement of the new session is still uncertain. If the COVID-19 wouldn't have struck, the University of Mumbai would have conducted ita exams from March to May and started the new session in mid-June. But now none of the universities in Maharashtra knows when the exams will begin again.
