The examination fees have been revised as per the resolution no. 16/3/29.5.2008 of the Academic Council and subsequently the registrar of Manipur University issued an order regarding this on April 2. However, the students get to know about this revised fee structure only at the time of filling of examination forms which is underway right now.
As per the revised examination fee structure, the cost of examination form is Rs 50 as against last year`s Rs 20 and the total examination fees for general courses without practical is Rs 800 as against Rs 500 last year and fees for general courses with practical is Rs 1050 as against Rs 750 last year.
Also, the examination fee for honours courses without practical is Rs 900 as against Rs 600 last year and those honours courses with practical is Rs 1150 as against Rs 850 last year. Overall increment in the examination fees for the undergraduate courses as revised by the Manipur University is about Rs 300 but the examination fees for the postgraduate courses remain unchanged.
When IFP tried to approach the MU officials to get detailed information regarding this revised fee structure, but there was none to give the details except for one office assistant who said that the matter has been done as per the resolution of the Academic Council.
Some people expressed their views that the examination fees must have been increased in accordance with the new pay roll enjoyed by the central government employees including the employees of Manipur University amidst high rate of inflation in the country.
On the other hand, the students are of the view that the state government has not yet implemented the recommendations of the 6th pay commission in the state and so it would be very unjust to increase the examination fees drastically.
Such a step would be a great burden to the parents who are mostly state government employees and even self-employed people who are directly or indirectly influenced by the poor economic conditions of the state.
They said that Rs 300 may be considered too little by the well-off people and employees of central government but it is too much for the poor people who are struggling to save every paise of their earnings for their children`s education.
Regarding this drastic increase in examination fees, the general secretary of Manipur College Students` Union, O. Dhanachandra said that the students have been urging the MU authority to cut down the examination fees but instead it has been drastically increased with the motive of extracting more money from the students. He added that this is very unjust on the part of MU to impose such a huge burden to the students and appealed the MU authority to review its stance on increasing examination fees.
Y. Tejrani Devi, general secretary of GP Women`s College Students` Union, also expressed that the new revised examination fee structure is really against the interests of the students of the state majority of whom hails from economically weak families. She further added that it is unfair to increase the examination fees without specifying the reason. She also asked if the abnormal increase in examination fee was done just for the sake of teachers to cope up with the current inflation.