Unhappy with the recent fee hike, students of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have been protesting. Though a committee was set up by the university to look into the students' concerns yesterday, November 1, the members of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), who are continuing the protest in the BHU campus, refuse to end it.
When EdexLive reached out to the varsity officials, Chander Shekher Gwari, Assistant Information and Public Relations Officer (PRO) at BHU, said, "We have clarified time and again that the fee hike is not applicable to students who are already studying at BHU. It is only meant for the upcoming students, starting from the 2022-23 batch."
The committee was constituted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Sudhir Kumar Jain "in the light of the representations submitted by the students", as the official press release from BHU states. It consists of five members, and it will start looking into the matter soon.
"This committee is chaired by Prof Yashwant Singh, Director, Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Prof AS Raghubanshi, Director, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development; Prof Madhoolika Agrawal, Dean, Faculty of Science; Prof AK Nema, Dean of Students and Prof Abhimanyu Singh, Chief Proctor, have been inducted into the committee as members. Dr Pushyamitra Trivedi, Dy Registrar, Academic, is the member secretary of the committee," the release reads.
Professor Abhimanyu Singh informed EdexLive that the committee has been set up to look into the students' concerns and understand their issues. "If the students' concerns can be solved, are found to be justified, we will see what can be done," he said.
"The course fees at BHU are the lowest in India after JNU," he stated further. Professor Singh added that the last time the fees were revised in BHU was in the year 2007. "It has been 15 years and a revision of the fee structure after this long a period is justified," he said.
As per a document shared by Professor Singh with EdexLive, the fee for general hostels has been hiked from Rs 4,360 to Rs 7,500 for combined semesters (both odd and even), while the fee for special hostels has been hiked from Rs 5,360 to Rs 8,500. The document does not mention the hike in the course fees, which, as the PRO informed, varied for different courses, as per the course requirements.
Students' reply
The students, though, are upset with the changes. "BHU is preferred by students from the middle and lower middle class students because of its suitable fee structure. Only about 5-6 per cent of students are from strong financial backgrounds, said Sakshi Pratap Singh, a member of ABVP BHU. She added that hikes like these lead to difficulty for the students.
Krishna Kumar, a second-year BA student at the varsity, whose brother has recently taken admission in the first year, disagreed with Professor Singh. "When I was in the first year, my seniors paid Rs 256 as the semester fee for the second year. If there has not been a hike since 2007 as the professor mentions, why was I asked to pay Rs 525 as my semester fees now?" he questioned.
Down the timeline...till the present
The students state that the fee hike issue cropped up in the month of August when BHU increased the fee for various courses. "The hike was about Rs 2,000 for few courses, while for a few others there was a Rs 5,000 spike," Sakshi said.
She added that the students had then initiated several protests demanding the fee hike be rolled back. They had submitted memorandums to the administration, organised signature and Twitter campaigns, addressed students in the classrooms and finally gheraoed the BHU Central Office. According to Sakshi, their attempts to meet the VC went in vain, so they discussed the matter with the Registrar Professor Arun Kumar Singh.
"We conveyed to him that a fee hike after the COVID-19 pandemic period was not fair. However, we did not receive a reply from the administration or nor were any changes in the fee structure made," Sakshi said. "On top of this, last month, the fee for the vocational courses and the courses offered by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences were hiked," she added.
The student said that the vocational course fees saw a hike of about Rs 10,000. "The vocational courses are expensive as such and a further increase is worrisome," Sakshi stated. "Along with the hostel allotment fees, the charges of the guest houses located inside the campus have also been hiked," said Krishna.
The students have been protesting since October 15 against these hikes. "Today (November 2) is our 19th day and we will continue it until the hike is rolled back," Sakshi said. She informed that the students who opted for admission at BHU through CUET (Common University Entrance Test) are having to pay the hiked course fees. It may be noted that the admission process is ongoing.
Recently, the members of NSUI (National Students' Union of India) also opposed the hikes. They conducted a signature campaign and protest march as well.
