Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh Government has directed not to increase fees for the upcoming academic session 2021 – 2022 in private and aided institutions of Engineering and Polytechnic under the Technical Education Department. The state government Government further informed that Engineering and Polytechnic institutions can take fees following the arrangements they had for the 2020 – 2021 session.
Alok Kumar, Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said, “Keeping Covid situation in mind, UP Govt decided not to hike fees for the session 2021-22 in private and aided institutions of Engineering and Polytechnic, running under the Technical Education Department. The fees shall remain same as of the year 2020-21.” He also stated that many families are affected economically due to the Covid second wave and schools are physically closed while online classes are going on.
Committee To Decide the Fees
The decision to not hike the fees has been made after taking into consideration the Covid situation in mind and the financial crisis associated with it. The admission and fee regulatory committee in the state had fixed fees for private institutions offering diploma or professional degree in 2018 for three years till 2021. The committee was to consider hiking the fees in 2021 but decided against it considering the COIVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Government has also banned any increase in school fees across all the boards for the upcoming academic session (2021-2022) owing to the coronavirus pandemic situation.
AICTE Letter Regarding Fees
Earlier in May, the technical education regulator, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), had asked institutions not to force students to pay the full fee in one go until normalcy is restored. The COVID-19 pandemic and the periodic lockdowns to control its spread has caused financial hardship to many and families are struggling to pay fees for school and college. The AICTE has also asked institutions to withdraw the termination of faculty members done during the lockdown period.