ABVP opposes admission fee hike for medical, engineering, dental courses

Mangalore, April 10: The activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Tuesday staged a protest here against the Karnataka Government for increasing the fee structure for engineering, medical and dental courses.

The protesters, who were demanding the immediate withdrawal of hike in admission fee for the professional courses, formed a human chain at KPT Circle in the city, which led to traffic disruption in for few minutes.

The activists said that the continuous increment in fee of professional courses shows that the Government is against the poor students. “In the current academic year, Karnataka has proposed a 10 per cent increase in the admission fee of profession courses. If the government failed to withdraw this proposal we will intensify our protest throughout the State”, they said.

The agitators accused the State Government of buckling under pressure from private managements.

“In 1994, 85 per cent of seats in medical course were with the Government. But now, government quota seats in private medical colleges have come down to 42 per cent. Likewise government quota seats in engineering and dental courses have been decreased from 85 per cent to 45 per cent and 35 percent respectively”, the protesters complained.

If Karnataka continues to surrender government quota seats in engineering, medical and dental courses to private managements, the students from financially poor back ground cannot even imagine of becoming a doctor, engineer or a dentist, said Chinmay Rai, City Secretary, ABVP, Mangalore Unit.