Ravenshaw students protest against hike in course fees in Cuttack on Tuesday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar, May 27: Students of Ravenshaw University today staged a demonstration protesting against “arbitrary” fee hike in various courses.

The students alleged that while cost of admission form had been arbitrarily raised from Rs 150 to Rs 500, the course fee of various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes had been hiked from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000, affecting many poor students.

The students under the banner of the Ravenshaw Working Committee shouted slogans carried placards and staged protest outside the main gate of the campus protesting against the “injustice”.

“There are many students from poor background studying in this varsity. They enrol here with the hope that it’s a government-run varsity and has an affordable fee structure. But, the hike of fee here indicates how the government-run institutions have also turn commercial just like their private counterparts,” rued Samapta Kumar Mohanty, a student.

The students rued the pathetic laboratory condition, lack of proper equipment and quality teaching faculty. “Teachers are not selected on merit basis leading to poor quality of teaching,” alleged Mohanty.

“Lakhs of money reach the varsity in the form of UGC grants, but we do not know where they are spent. Similarly, there is no account of money being earned from the self-financing programmes,” alleged another student, adding that they had sought for information through the RTI.

The students burnt the effigy of vice-chancellor Baishnab Charan Tripathy and demanded his ouster.

Alleging that negligence and inefficiency of the VC had led to various “irregularities and indiscipline” in the varsity, the students said the VC had been globetrotting on the pretext of seminars and symposiums being little bothered about the institution’s affairs.

“Despite being provided an accommodation on the campus, he stays outside. It has become difficult for us to contact him regarding our day-to-day problems,” said Dushmanta Sahoo, another student.