Uttar Pradesh: Students protest against the fee hike at King George Medical University

Lucknow: King George's Medical University's (KGMU) decision to raise the examination fee of the college has caused rancor among students at the university. Student have protested against more than a double hike in examination fee. The college authorities on the other hand have rendered their justification by calling it a rational decision, further adding that the escalated charges the authorities have to pay for conducting examinations under the government's demonetization is reason enough for the raise..

The fee hike in the case of undergraduate students amounts to Rs. 7,500 in 2015 to Rs. 16,500 to in 2016; and Rs, 12,500 to Rs. 30,000 by post graduate students from the year 2015 to 2016 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA),KGMU, has sent a representation to the Vice Chancellor of the University, as well as, the Governor, Ram Naik, in his capacity as Chancellor, University, complaining about the extreme escalation in the fee in the past few years. The representation complains of the raise being too high "for students coming into government institutes like KGMU, after years of hard work to be ahead in tough competitive examinations."

Vice Chancellor, Prof Ravi Kant, rationalizing the raise said that while resident doctors were open to the idea of accepting high salaries, they were unwilling to meet up with the annual fee to afford their own expenses.

"It is a very rational decision when the government funding is already in the negative. We have to spend in electricity for the examination hall, manage external examiners and pay for other examination related requirements at a fee that is still minimal as compared to private colleges."