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PROTESTING INJUSTICE

Dental college students refuse to pay hiked fees

Hemali Chhapia I TNN

Mumbai: Ever heard of MBBS fees being less than the dental course fees? A Punebased institution that offers both courses charges its medical students less than its dental students. While the interim fee for the Sinhgad Medical College’s dental course has been fixed at Rs 2.25 lakh by the state-appointed fee committee, the college has flouted the order and asked students to shell out Rs 2.58 lakh.
The dental college students have refused to pay the revised fees saying that the college has “inflated’’ their expenditure bills. Annual interim fees at Sinhgad were Rs 94,600 in 2006-7. The rate has been revised to Rs 2.58 lakh within a year.
So what caused the hike? Basic math gone wrong, it appears. The college in its accounts shows the institution’s total salary bill as Rs 2 crore and the building establishment expenses as Rs 40 lakh. But these expenses were divided only among the first two batches of students-numbering 150, instead of being divided among students of various batches.
The Shikshan Shulka Samiti, the fee-fixing committee, also did not realise the error and has permitted the institution to charge the new interim fee. The Samiti has complained about the lack of experts on the panel for a while. This time, the oversight has clearly allowed the fees of a dental college to be hiked by over 100%. And students, who have noticed the error, have refused to pay up.
“We have paid Rs 94,600 as annual fees. But now the college is demanding an additional Rs 1.64 lakh,’’ a student said. Almost 120 students protested outside the Samiti’s office in Bandra on Wednesday, demanding
that their fees be reviewed.
Vivek Korde, president of the Forum Against Commercialisation of Education, said the college had “distorted their accounts’’ and have tried to place the entire financial burden on a single batch.
Officials in the Association of Managements of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges defended themselves saying the government body had fixed their fees and students were asked to pay up on the basis of the Samiti’s decision. The Samiti said the students can seek a review of the fees.