Unfair Fee Hike: Students Protest At Sreenarayanaguru Open University
Condemning increase in semester examination fees at Sreenarayanaguru Open University, students staged a protest demanding an immediate withdrawal of the increased amount.
The students expressed their frustration over the University’s decision to increase fees arbitrarily, creating financial burdens and breeding confusion.
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The protesting students said that the fourth-semester registration fees have been increased from Rs 2760 to Rs 3260. This unexpected increment of Rs 500 has caused significant financial strain for students.
As per the regional daily Kerala Kaumudi report, the registration fee for the 4th semester for BA, B Com is Rs 2860, BBA -Rs 3660-4660 and MA, M Com- 3500.
Moreover, the college has also included a student welfare fund of Rs 300 and Sports and Arts Activities fee of Rs 200 with the semester registration fee.
Protesting against the move, several students have mailed the authorities raising concerns regarding the sudden increase in the fee.
When contacted, one student (who doesn’t want to reveal the name) from the University said: “Most of the students opt to join open university due to the financial crisis. The certificate value of Sreenarayanaguru university is less compared to other universities.”
In addition, the inclusion of arts and sports was also strongly criticised by the students. It is the right of each student to be part of such curricular activities and not something that they should pay for, he stated.
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The students have also raised the issue of not getting proper offline classes as well. Moreover, all the internal exams are now removed and instead, assignments are assigned. Hence, the students will now have to look after this expense as well.
“Now, comparing the professional college expenses with the open university, both seem, moreover the same,” the student said.
The delay in the examination was also raised.
Sree Narayana Guru Open University is the Kerala’s first Open University established by the government of Kerala in September 2020. The campuses of the university consist of the headquarters at Kollam, four regional centers at Thirppunithura, Pattambi, Kozhikode and Thalasserry and 20 Learner Support centres.
Timeline tried to contact the university authorities, they have not responded yet.
