Massive protest at IIT Guwahati over 'Exceptionally high’ hike in fee
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Photo courtesy of NDTV
Guwahati: Hundreds of research scholars and MTech students have started protesting since last afternoon at the campus of IIT Guwahati against what they said 'exceptionally high' hike in fee, NDTV reported.
Fee hike for BTech and MTech courses comes alongside similar hike for PhD students this year, triggering the protest with more students likely to throw themselves into it.
The protest erupted after authorities allegedly failed to honour the promise on the fee structure they made at an open house session on July 17.
The session had in attendance the director of IIT-G, the deans of student affairs, academic affairs, and senior officials.
A PhD scholar reportedly revealed on the condition of anonymity that at the open discussion authorities had promised they would listen to the students’ demands but they, according to the student, were in fact buying time.
‘Tuesday (July 22) was the day of registration for the July-November semester. However, you cannot register without paying the fee, and the premier institute did not communicate properly on the status of registration because, after the open house, we were promised a revision of the fee," the PhD scholar was quoted as saying.
It is reported that research scholars were barred from registering for the semester on Tuesday citing non-payment of the semester registration fee.
Having no option at hand, some students had to pay the amount, but most others chose to protest, refusing to pay till the fee hike is revoked.
The students have taken out the protest after their research is stalled, according to the PhD scholar.
The sources at IIT Guwahati reportedly said that fee for PhD students for the July-November semester has increased by Rs 10,900 from Rs 34,800 in the January-May 2025, and rose to Rs 45,700.
Scholars alleged that the incoming students would have to pay Rs 92,000 and alongside, their total fee each semester in accordance with the current revision would be around Rs 57,000, ‘That is 20k more than their stipend’.
Even as the protest is getting stronger, authorities at IIT Guwahati have not yet made any statement regarding the allegations.
