Students of Nift stage a demonstration on their campus in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 18: Classes at the National Institute of Fashion Technology here came to a standstill today as 200-odd students went on a two-day strike to protest against the administration’s decision to increase tuition fee by almost 50 per cent.

The students said the semester fee for the first, second and third years, which have so far been Rs 60,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively, has now been uniformly raised to Rs 75,000 across all disciplines at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Terming the hike as “arbitrary”, the students expressed apprehension over their ability to continue studies at the government-run institute.

“Many of us are studying here by taking loan from banks. We can bear a 10 per cent increase but a hike of almost 50 per cent is unacceptable, that too, midway through our course. Apart from the fees, we have to spend a lot of money for our assignments as the college does not provide any money for this purpose. The fee hike will now be an additional burden on us,” said a second-year undergraduate student.

Institute sources justified the hike stating that the fee structure of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (Nift) was quite low in comparison to other fashion institutes in the country.

“This decision has been taken to foster the institute’s expansion and development works. The hike will perhaps be applicable to all Nift centres across the country,” said an official.

Students of Nift at 10 other centres across the country — including those in Hyderabad, Gandhi Nagar and Shillong — are also protesting against the fee hike.

“This is a government institute and they cannot charge exorbitant fees like this. There are rumours that the hostel fee would also be increased from Rs 22,000 to Rs 38,000. How will we afford all this?” said another student.

Once the strike ends on Tuesday evening, the students will continue silent protests by wearing black items of clothing until the fee hike decision is revoked.

“If the authorities do not relent at all, some of us will be forced to drop out,” said a student.

The budding designers have also started a campaign on a social networking site to garner support for their strike. The post reads: “Nift is a premier institute of design, management and technology, not of revenue generation. Fee hike is irrational and deterrent to the careers of most of the students. So, the decision (of fee hike) should taken back.”

The institute was set up following the state government’s proposal to the Union ministry of textiles for a Nift in Bhubaneswar. The government spent Rs 58.65 crore to set up the institute that started functioning from June 2010.

Nift, Bhubaneswar, offers four-year bachelor and two-year master programmes in design, management and technology.