‘Time to go back to class’: Govt to JNU students after fee hike rollback

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Updated: Jul 23, 2020 04:22 IST

The Jawaharlal Nehru University on Wednesday rolled back the increase in hostel fees after massive protests by students over the last two weeks.

A senior official at the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry said the executive committee, the top decision-making body of the university, has also proposed a scheme to provide financial assistance to students from economically weaker section (EWS).

“JNU Executive Committee announces major roll-back in the hostel fee and other stipulations. Also proposes a scheme for economic assistance to the EWS students. Time to get back to classes,” education secretary R Subrahmanyam tweeted.

Watch | After protests, JNU announces roll-back of hike in hostel fees

The decisions were taken in the meeting of the executive committee that had to be shifted outside the campus fearing protests by students.

For the past few weeks, the students and the university administration have been are at loggerheads over a new hostel manual, which mentions increase in fees along with other changes in rules.

There were massive protests on Monday outside the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) building in Vasant Kunj, where the convocation ceremony of the university was organised.

The protests saw Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, the guest of honour at the convocation, trapped inside the venue for close to seven hours. So was M Jagadesh Kumar, the vice-chancellor of JNU.

The university’s hostel committee had approved a new manual during a meeting on October 28, without consulting representatives of the students’ union. The executive council though hadn’t approved the manual.

Since then, the JNU students’ union (JNUSU) had organised several protests on the campus demanding its roll back.

According to the new manual, JNU students will have to pay a service charge of Rs 1,700 a month. The rent for a single-seater room was upped from Rs 20 a month to Rs 600 a month. For a double-sharing room, it was increased from Rs 10 a month to Rs 300 a month. The refundable mess security fee was revised to Rs 12,000 from Rs 5,500.