Pune: Law students demand 50 percent fee waiver
Pune, June 27: Around 400 law students from in and around Pune have written to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) higher-ups to waive off their 50 percent of fees for the new academic year 2020-21.
The students of the first year of LLB from 12 different law colleges affiliated to SPPU in Pune and Ahmednagar districts conducted a seven-days survey wherein the majority (99.3 percent) of them expressed the need to waive 50 percent of fees for the next academic year. They stated in the letter that due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, the colleges were shut from March 15, following which as per the instructions given by the University Grants Commission (UGC) most of the colleges conducted online classes to complete the portion of the second semester.
A student who contacted Punekarnews.in stated that the fee for the law education falls under the bracket of Rs 30,000 to 40,000. However, last year, after clearing the 2019 entrance exam for law, many colleges had started sessions with full strength by December 2019. Due to the delay in starting the session for the first semester, the examination for it was held in February 2020. After which from March onwards, the second semester commenced. Nevertheless, within 10 days of the sessions, the state declared a lockdown and educational institutes were shut till further orders. The colleges covered the syllabus online.
“Since the fee structure includes infrastructure among other charges, and now that most of the classes are held online. Moreover, last year we had limited classes held due to the delay in starting the academic year, followed by interruption because of lockdown. Hence, we requested the authorities to consider waiving off at least 50 percent of our fee for the second year,” said the student.
