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UG, PG students who lost parents to Covid-19 to get full fee waiver: Maharashtra edu minister
The annual fees of undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students who lost one or both their parents to Covid-19 will be waived off until they complete their education, state education minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant announced on Tuesday
The annual fees of undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students who lost one or both their parents to Covid-19 will be waived off until they complete their education, state education minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant announced on Tuesday.
The announcement came a day after Samant called for a virtual meeting with vice-chancellors of all state universities to discuss fee reduction, considering the economic slowdown that has affected families across the nation.
“Students who have lost their father/mother/parents to Covid-19 will not have to pay their fees until the completion of their UG or PG course. We are also waiving off miscellaneous fees for other students in the coming academic year,” Samant said in a press conference held in the city on Tuesday evening.
He added that fees charged for gymkhana, extra-curricular activities, college magazine, sports fund, computer, medical aid fund as well as youth festival, which are anyway subsidised, will be waived off in full for the upcoming year.
“As maintenance of laboratories and libraries and purchase of e-content has already been invested by colleges, a 50% discount will be applied on these charges. However, as the dormitories are not being used by students, dormitory charges will also be waived off,” added Samant.
While students and parents have welcomed the move, it has received mixed reactions from colleges affiliated with state universities.
“Full waiver will affect unaided colleges, because we depend on fees to pay salaries to our staff. Thankfully, the government will be reimbursing tuition and development fees for such students to colleges, because unlike aided colleges where salaries are paid by the government, expenses in unaided colleges are bore by the management,” said T A Shiware, chairman of Mumbai Association of Non-Government Colleges. He, however, added that this decision is a good move to support students affected by Covid-19.
Last week, Samant had announced a rebate of ₹16,250 to engineering students from government-aided institutes for not using the library, gymkhana and other facilities on campus, as students have not attended physical classes in over a year. This decision will benefit nearly 20,000 students across the state.
In the press conference, Samant clarified that tuition and development fees levied by aided as well as unaided colleges will not be discounted.
“Only miscellaneous fees including gymkhana, computer fees, sports fee, medical fund etc will be discounted,” he said.
