Students knock Andhra HC door, seek fee waiver for lockdown period

Hyderabad: Visakhapatnam : Two students have approached Andhra Pradesh High Court against Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU), Visakhapatnam, for demanding fees for the lockdown period.

Anurag Tiwary and Keshav Baheti have moved the High Court praying for wavier of the fees.Universities in the state are forcing students to pay the fees even for the period when the educational institutions were closed due to the lockdown. Students have been asked to pay library fees, hostel fees, mess charges, electricity charges, and Internet fees.

“Such Universities have turned into profit-making corporations wherein they charge a mandatory increment in the Tuition fee of their students every year. Such increment in the Academic year 2020-2021 during the time when COVID-19 has crippled the economy and increased unemployment will severely prejudice the interest of the students and make them worse off than their privileged counterparts,” the students said.

Universities have a complementary role in ensuring the mental health of the students during this period of lockdown. Unfortunately, the lockdown has increased the risk of mental health problems among youngsters and students.

In such overwhelmingly trying and extraordinary circumstances, it is the responsibility of these Universities that students are not put into any kind of burden. But, the academic minds in such universities have started conducting Internal Evaluations and putting such students into a state of discomfort where they now have to go through added pressure and meet deadlines. Final year students of every course, for instance, will be forced to appear for their examinations at a time when they could have been already working in the market.