TS: OU Students demand semester fee waiver
Hyderabad: Osmania University (OU) students gathered outside their campus on Tuesday demanding that the apex regulator of higher education ask varsities to waive the semester and examination fees since the campus is closed.
The education department promised to address genuine concerns of students.
In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the government had ordered the closure of campuses of higher education institutions and instead directed them to relegate the teaching through online classes.
But with the pandemic exerting immense financial pressures, scores of university students from across the country gathered outside the higher education offices demanding that their full semester fees be waived.
They further demanded that students be promoted to the next semester without conducting any examinations, in the vein of pupils in matriculation and intermediate.
With placards in hand at OU, the students shouted slogans with AIDSO state secretary R. Gangadhar, Students’ Federation of India State Vice President MD Javed as well as the union leaders Jani Goud, Prathibha, Balakrishna, and Ashok participate in the protest. They submitted a memorandum to the registrar at Osmania University.
Claiming that the pandemic has affected them severely, students called out varsities for charging the full semester fees declaring it “immoral” and “unfair”.
Student demands in the view of COVID-19
- Waiving of examination fee and tuition fee for all courses
- Postponing all exams and industrial training till the normal conditions restored
- Following the democratic process while implementing decisions in the education sector while discussing this with students’ unions, teachers’ unions and intellectuals.
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