Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira in Belur is charging reduced fees even after the college has reopened its hostels for offline classes from November 16 “in view of post-Covid economic hardship faced by the whole country”.
The college has said the reduced fees, both for college and hostel, will be in place till December end and reviewed thereafter. Details of the fee structure have been uploaded on the college website.
The residential college has so far recalled 200-odd students who are staying at the hostels and attending practical classes after the Bengal government allowed resumption of in-person classes for colleges and universities.
“The session charges for 2021-2022 have been reduced in view of post-COVID economic hardship faced by the whole country. UG and PG students can pay these charges in either online or in offline mode by 31 March 2022,” says a notice signed by Swami Ekachittananda, the principal of the college.
The college had reduced hostel and college fees in November last year because of the financial constraints that the students were facing and decided to continue with the same fees till the resumption of in-person classes.
But the waiver has been extended even after the resumption of in-person classes as the pandemic-induced economic hardship is still affecting a large number of students. “The reduced fee structure is being continued because of the economic hardship,” principal Swami Ekachittananda told The Telegraph.
A large number of students come from the underprivileged families and their earnings still continue to suffer. “Sixty per cent of our students come from the rural areas… Even those from middle-class families have been adversely affected.” said vice-principal Swami Mahaprajnananda.
Vidyamandira has called students of the outgoing batch at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, studying lab-based subjects along with those in the undergraduate second year and postgraduate second year.
Other than those, some of the students have also come citing constraints at home.
