Photo Credit : jnu.ac.in
By Kusum Sharma
Gurugram, November 16, 2019: On Friday, the students of Jawahar Lal Nehru University ( JNU) continued to protest against the fee hike in hostel fees. The students said that they will not stop until the hike is completely rolled back. JNU’s decision of imposing a 300% fee hike came as a shock to all the students. The students started protesting against the fee hike from October 28.
Source:The Print
The room rates have been revised to Rs 300 and Rs 600 per month respectively for double and single occupancy rooms. This is a massive hike as the current fee of double and single occupancy rooms is Rs 10 and Rs 20 per month respectively. The refundable mess security was also increased from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000. The service charges have been increased to Rs 1,700 per month. A 50 percent concession has been offered to students from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) background.
Source: Anonymous
Source: Anonymous
But even a 50% concession is not enough for the students who belong to the economically backward backgrounds. “40% of the JNU population comes from a socially backward background. Many of them rely on MCM, a form of stipend which is given to the students of JNU who are pursuing B.A and M.A. A 300% fee hike can be a huge problem for these students.” said a JNU alumnus. The source refused to reveal her identity.
The source also talked about how this fee hike can be a problem for independent women who went against their families to study at JNU. JNU has given a chance to many such students to change their lives.
A JNU student will now have to pay approximately Rs 55,000- Rs 61,000 as per the revised fee rates according to a data report by The Print. According to the comparison report after the fee hike, Jawahar Lal Nehru University will become the most expensive central university.
JNU is a central university that is built on a no-profit – no-loss policy. It means that the University does not aim to make a profit from the student’s money. All central universities receive funding from the central government.
The fee hike is not a problem for the student who comes from a well economic background. But all the students have participated in the protest together as the sudden fee hike has hurt the emotions of all the students who are studying at JNU. The challenge for the students is to now convince the administration for a complete rollback.