Students of Amity University, Mumbai Seek Reduction in Semester Fee
Universities Continue to Demand Hike in Fees Despite COVID-19 Crisis
As the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on people’s lives unfold, many young students in India are having difficulties in facing the social and financial challenges thrown at them.
Students at Amity University, Mumbai (AUM), have come together in a collective response against the university’s fee hike for the upcoming semester. The students said they approached the university campaigning for a 50% reduction in the semester fees.
“COVID-19 has caused massive socio-economic loss on both micro and macro strata of the economy that either already has or will lead to breakdown/loss of income to various households of the students,” the collective said in an e-mailed statement to the university authorities that was sent on June 16th, 2020.
The students also said they are demanding the university to refund the hostel and bus transport fee for the month of April and May, during which time they did not avail the services because of the national lockdown. As of Monday (22nd June), the students did not get any response from AUM’s management.
The university’s policy is to increase the fee by about 5% every year, the students said.
In a survey among 1,089 students from AUM, the collective found that “95% of the students strongly appeal that it is unjust to charge complete semester fees.” More than 96% students want the fee to be halved for the approaching odd semester.
“Amidst a pandemic and a global lockdown, no one deserves to be fighting for a decent concession in fees,” said Palchhin J, a final year student at Amity University, Mumbai. “Our parents don’t deserve to sacrifice everything for a degree. Universities are not business hubs and students are not ATM cards.”
The survey also found that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, families of 34.5% students suffer from average financial loss, and about the same percentage of students suffer above average loss. Nearly 20% of students report their families to be bearing extensive losses. 9% students suffer below average loss.
“My father’s company is at the verge of shutting down and all I can do is ask for a reasonable concession, quite humbly if I may add, to provide us a much needed financial relief and hope for a promising career ahead,” said a student at AMU who wished to stay anonymous.
The collective also said that according to the survey, many of their parents saw a reduction in pay by almost 50–60% during the course of the lockdown. “In some cases, parents have not been receiving any salary for almost 3 months. Even worse, some parents have lost their job”.
On June 19th, the students also wrote to the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Education Minister of Maharashtra, and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. None have responded to the students’ requests so far.
The deadline for the final payment of fees is 20 July 2020, with a fine of Rs. 500/- for every day of delay. On Monday, 22nd June, the students sent another reminder to the head of their university as well as the AUM Vice Chancellor.
The following is a list of demands made by the students in their email statement:
- 50% reduction in in fees for coming odd semester
- 20 % reduction of hostel fees in the coming odd semester.
- Due date for fee payment postponed (at least) to August last week
- Refund of hostel fees for 2 Months (April and May)
- Refund of Bus Transport fee for 2 months (April and May)
Note: The collective is an informal group of students who have come together specifically for this issue. Given that the official AUM student council is chosen by the faculty and not elected by students themselves, very few students on campus feel confident of the council’s ability to take up issues that go against the university management.
