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AISA wing of DU protest against fee hike, submit memorandum seeking rollback
AISA unit of Delhi University on Thursday staged a protest against what they described as an arbitrary and repeated increase in fees, a statement read.
The All India Students' Association unit of Delhi University on Thursday staged a protest against what they described as an arbitrary and repeated increase in fees, a statement read.
The left-backed students' group said that the move would push higher education further out of reach for marginalised students.
According to the statement, the protest followed a recent university notification that raised DU's share in the combined fee to ₹4,100 from ₹3,500 fixed in July last year, a jump of more than 17 per cent in just six months. This comes on top of a 20 per cent hike announced in July.
A delegation of students later met the dean of student welfare and submitted a memorandum demanding an immediate rollback of the latest increase, the statement read.
"While the university authorities offered assurances during the meeting, such responses had been given earlier as well, without any concrete relief," it read.
Sanatan, vice-president of AISA DU, said the fee hike reflected a lack of commitment towards inclusive education and accused the administration of adopting a market-driven approach.
Student leaders alleged that the repeated hikes showed a growing shift towards treating education as a paid service rather than a right.
They argued that linking access to education with a student's ability to pay would exclude those from poorer backgrounds and undermine the public character of the university, the statement said.
