JJS protests ‘exorbitant fee’ charged by corporate colleges

Seeks implementation of Fee Regulatory Act in toto

Voicing concern: Jana Jagarana Samithi activists demonstrating against the fee hike by corporate junior colleges, in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

Making a strong pitch against the ‘exorbitant fee’ charged by the corporate colleges, the members of Jana Jagarana Samithi (JJS) on Friday staged a protest near the Intermediate Board regional office here on Friday. They demanded that the Fee Regulatory Act be implemented in toto in corporate junior colleges.

JJS State secretary K. Vasu pointed out that the corporate colleges were demanding exorbitant fees ranging from ₹90,000 to ₹1,50,000 while as per rule and the Fee Regulatory Act, the fee should be ₹2,134 for the first year and ₹ 2,340 for the second year.

“The corporate colleges can charge anything between ₹20,000 to ₹30,000, if the fee prescribed by State Government is too low. But, it going into lakhs and this is not acceptable,” he said.

He further alleged that the colleges were discriminating students on the basis of fees paid and performance.

Discrimination alleged

“The colleges give fancy names to certain batches such as Super 60 and IPL and charge fee accordingly. They screen students on the basis IQ level and place them in certain batches and those students are treated differently. The rest of the students are treated very badly,” he alleged.

‘Improve infra’

The protesters also demanded that the government must fill up the vacant posts in the government junior colleges, upgrade them and provide basic infrastructure on par with their private counterparts. The JJS members met Regional Intermediate Education Officer Nagesh Kumar and submitted a memorandum. The RIEO promised to take the issues up with the authorities concerned.