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IITs may not increase fee this year as HRD weighs options
New Delhi: The union human resources development ministry is considering asking the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to not take up their fee this
New Delhi: The union human resources development ministry is considering asking the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to not take up their fee this year on account of Covid-19, and the economic distress it has causes -- something the IITs said they would be open to.
IIT Delhi said it has already decided to not hike the fees for its post graduate courses.
“There is a view in the HRD ministry that premier institutions can step forward and take decisions which will benefit the student community as a whole, that the IITs should try to not hike fees. There have been discussions on this and the ministry could request the IITs to not implement a fee hike this year,” said a government official who asked not to be named.
The decision on the fee for undergraduate courses is taken jointly in the IIT council, which is headed by HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank while individual IITs take a call on the fee structure of other courses they offer.
“The matter is at present in the discussion stage,” said a top official in the HRD ministry who asked not to be named.
IIT Bombay Director Subhasis Chaudhuri said his institute will go by the decision of the IIT council.
The director of another IIT, who asked not to be named, said he understood the logic behind the step but would like to see what the other IITs have to say.
“The HRD ministry has already requested private schools not to pressure students into paying fees. It also wants them to not go for big, arbitrary hikes in view of the situation. In this light , the ministry will be seen as walking its talk, if its own institutions took the lead,” said the first official .
The official added that apart from the IITs, the Indian Institutes of Information Technology too could be requested to spare the students a fee hike this year
