After the agitation of the JNU students regarding the fee hike in public-funded institutes, the students of Indian Institute of Mass Communication have been protesting since the 3rd of December 2019.
The students are protesting against the authorities to reduce the course fees and Rs 1000 hike in the mess fees. The fee structure of the various courses within the institute for the year 2019-20 is:
- Radio and TV journalism- Rs 1,68,500
- Advertising and PR- Rs 1,31,500
- Hindi Journalism- Rs 95,500
- English Journalism- Rs 95,500
- Urdu Journalism- Rs 55,500
Apart from the course fee, hostel and mess fee is Rs 6,500 for girls and Rs 4,800 for boys every month, which is considered to be quite high for a public-funded Institute like IIMC.
One of the students from IIMC, Hrishikesh who is pursuing the course on Radio & TV Journalism at IIMC said that they have been addressing their issues for the last one week, but the administration has turned a blind eye to their redressal by saying that it is beyond their limits to alter the fee structure.
The students also complained that every student does not get hostel rooms and so they have to search for accommodation outside where they have to pay high amount of rent.
Also, the students have raised up the issue against the authority by saying that despite holding several meetings the administration did not inform the students about the fee hike and now that these issues are raised up by various media the administration has said that the fee hike is yet to be finalized.
The students claimed that they have tried to convince the administration, but it seemed that the administration was not taking the students seriously and thereby the students were forced to carry out a protest to bring down the fee hike.
It seems that the protest led by JNU has been motivating students from other institutes and universities to raise issues related to fee hike.
The students have also mentioned that many new students who have cleared the entrance step back and do not take admissions after seeing the fee structure.
Analyzing this situation, the students say that education is the right of every student and is not just for the privileged. They also added that if the fees keep increasing at this rate, media education will be out of reach for many of the aspiring students.
Astha Savyasachi, a student of English Journalism at IIMC, said that it is very difficult for middle-class people to pay Rs 1,68,500 for a ten-month course with additional hostel and mess fee charges. However, the students are unwilling to give up until their demands are met.