The Tezpur University on August 13 issued a statement saying that the recent news of fee hike, carried by several local media, was one-sided and misleading.
The university said that it felt the news to be one-sided which “has misled the entire student community”.
“We would like to clarify that the university has not increased fees of any of the programmes for the current semester. Last semester, in view of the pandemic situation, the university had granted partial waiver of fees, as the students did not avail of some facilities, such as, library, medical, infrastructure and amenity, electricity & water charges, laboratory etc. and accordingly they paid less amount of fees,” a statement signed by the university registrar said.
It added that the university plans to open offline classes “at the earliest possible date” and has hence restored the original fee structure for the current semester.
“In case, the university cannot bring the students on the campus due to deterioration of COVID-19 situation again, the university will sincerely consider refund or adjust the fees of those facilities not availed by the students appropriately,” it said.
Students of the university recently noticed an increase in fee and called for necessary action to reverse the “increase”. Tezpur University students opposed “the decision” and criticized the authorities for compelling them to pay fees for in-campus services which they didn’t avail as the campus has remained shut due to COVID restrictions.
A Times of India report said that the Students Federation of India (SFI) has also countered the fee hike by the central university terming it as “brutal” towards the students and their families at a time when the state is reeling under pandemic.
Demanding immediate roll back of the fee hike, SFI state unit general secretary Nirangkush Nath, said: “We have asked them to reconsider the decision and reduce the exorbitant fees. The pandemic has severely affected the country’s economy which has adversely affected people’s livelihood due to frequent COVID-related lockdowns. The university administration has been ruthless in its approach and hiked fees ranging between Rs 1200 and Rs 2000 across various courses in 2020-21 and 2021-22.”
