PNS|Hyderabad
Osmania University authorities celebrated Telangana Vidya Dinotsavam (Education Day) on a grand scale. Vidya Dinotsavam Day is observed in connection with Telangana Formation Day Decennial celebrations.
But OU students were not happy with OU authorities as they had hiked fees massively much before the decennial celebrations mocking Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s ‘KG to PG free education’ slogan.
The students asked whether they should celebrate Education Day for hiking fees or for OU’s rank coming down.
Instead of reducing fees as per KCR’s idea, the OU authorities enhanced fees to tarnish the OU’s image which was known for its student-friendly policies. The OU authorities increased the fee for degree courses per year from Rs 3000 to Rs 30,000 (depending on courses). They also increased the fees of technical courses, LLB, PG, B.Ed and MEd sharply. The OU authorities increased PhD fees from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000 (Arts, Humanities, Languages) and from Rs 2500 to Rs 25,000 and from Rs 2,500 to Rs 25,000. The authorities also increased PhD submission fees from Rs 5,500 to Rs 11,000.
In fact, the OU authorities have been defending the hike stating that they enhanced the fees due to maintenance problems. They have also been stating that the state government is not releasing funds as expected. They also said that the government had not released fee reimbursement money for four years.
Ramesh, a student of OU said that the authorities shocked students by enhancing the fees sharply like private universities.He said that authorities increased the fees forgetting the fact that Osmania University is a government institution that is famous across the world for its minimum fees and maximum education as 90 per cent of the students are from rural areas.
He said that the hike in fees may hit the prospects of the BRS in the next Assembly elections as lakhs of students pursue education in OU. The sad thing is that the CM is firm on KG to PG free education but OU authorities commercialised education, he added.
“I don’t know why OU authorities celebrated Education Day after ignoring the basics. I think the OU authorities might have increased fees to celebrate festivals like Education Day,” another student named Ram Reddy said.
Meanwhile, the BRS student wing, BRSV, participated in Education Day celebrations although some student unions like the ABVP did not participate.
The ABVP boycotted classes in engineering colleges asking the government to release scholarships amounting to Rs 5,200 crore and the fee reimbursement amount.
Some student leaders staged a fast-unto-death opposing Education Day celebrations and demanded that the state government should solve OU’s problems by enhancing the allocation of funds by 15 to 20 per cent of the budget.
