The students of Delhi University (DU) staged a protest on November 9 at 2 pm at the Arts Faculty of Delhi University against the massive fee hike in PhD admission, especially the English Department. Speaking to EdexLive, All India Students' Association (AISA) Delhi President Abhigyan said, "The primary concern is the fee hike which has increased from Rs 1,932 to Rs 23,968 in the PhD English Department."
Giving more details, Abhigyan said, "On November 7 a notice was put out and only one day was given for payment of fees. We have noticed a constant hike in fees and refusal to give grants to several courses." Along with AISA, the protest was staged by various student groups: the All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO), All India Students' Federation (AISF), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Students' Federation of India and other groups.
As per the statement issued by AISA, the demands are:
"Reject fee hike in DU!
Down with NEP model of privatisation!
Uphold Equitable education for all!"
"University took another 930 crore loan for a new east campus, which tells us that this saga of constant fee hike is set to rise in DU!," the statement added.
Other concerns
Abhigyan told EdexLive, "A new integrated law course has been introduced whose fee for a year is two lakh. These courses are introduced under self-financing courses and the students have to face the brunt." And this impacts marginalised students the most, they allege.
Further, Abhigyan opines that self-financing courses are increasing. Additionally, "This phenomenon has been going on for a while. In the past 10 years, number of such self-financing courses and business models have been rising which have resulted in excluding the marginalised from education."
"The university is becoming an elite private business model," he said, reacting to the arbitrary fee hike.
