Protest against the collection of additional fees
Students of Ahmedabad Physiotherapy College’s institute run
by Parul Arogya Sewa Mandal intensified their protest against the collection of
additional fees which they termed wrongful. The protest has been going
on for the last three days and was further aggravated on Friday as the girls students
residing at the institute’s hostel joined the protest and walked out of the hostel.
The matter took a turn for the worse as one of the school’s authorities slapped
Ketu Patel, second-year student, for supporting the protest.
Ishan Soni, third-year student of Bachelors of Physiotherapy (BPT) said, "In addition
to the annual course fee which is
60,000,
we were wrongfully being asked to pay
2,000
as fees for computer training. However, no computer classes were conducted. While
many of us protested over this wrongful collection by wearing black ribbons, the
authorities asked us to leave the institute." About 18 female students at the institute’s
hostel joined the protest and they too were asked to leave the hostel by authorities,
say students. Vanraj Chavda, second-year BPT student, said, "Furthermore, instead
of 16 members of faculty required to take the full term lectures, the institute
has a staff of 8 teachers. Hence we also demanded that more teachers be brought
to the institute."
The sudden increase in deposit from
5,000
to
10,000
collected from students in addition to the course fees is also one of the reasons
behind the protest. The I-card fee which was
100
last year has also been raised to
300.
"These sudden hikes burden us," said Chavda. The students represented their grievances
to Gujarat University authorities on Friday. Taking action on the complaints, university
authorities have issued a show-cause notice to the institute and have compelled
the authorities to reply to the notice in a week.
Dr. Devanshu Patel, a trustee of the institute, said, "The sum of
2,000
paid as computer fees is mandatory and we are ready to refund the amount. Addressing
the students’ demand for more teachers, we are to recruit more teachers within a
few weeks. We have planned a parents’ meet on Monday to address the grievances and
reach a solution."
Courtesy: Times of India
