SRINAGAR: Despite guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to not be harsh on students in this time of Covid crisis, the administration of Cluster University Srinagar has asked students to deposit semester fees online.
Students entering their 3rd and 5th semesters in different constituent colleges of the varsity have complained that they are being asked to deposit semester fees at a time when their families are in financial distress.
The order to deposit fees has come a few weeks after the government asked all colleges and universities to not insist on immediate payment of annual or semester fees.
The national regulatory body for higher education, UGC, has also issued guidelines that instead of being harsh on students at a time of crisis, educational institutions should be empathetic and explore alternate revenue models.
The recent notification by the varsity reads, “Students of semester 2nd (Batch 2019) and semester 4th (Batch 2018) of various Integrated, Professional, Honors and UG Programmes who are likely to be promoted to semester 3rd & 5th respectively and are already attending virtual Google Class through their respective Colleges, they shall submit their Admission Forms along with Annual Admission Fee in online mode through university website: www.cusrinagar.edu.in for Admission to 3rd & 5th Semester.”
Many students of the varsity have demanded that they should be provided with some relaxations in terms of submission of the fees.
The students also questioned why they should be paying any fees when they have not been able to attend classes for most of the past one year, first due to the shutdown post abrogation of Article 370 in August, and then the lockdown imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deeba, a student, said that it is very hard for students to pay fees in such circumstance. “The university should not be telling students to pay semester fees when they are well aware of the fact that in the previous year there have been only a few classes,” she said.
Naveed Ahmad, another student, said, “The university has asked us to pay semester fees within some days but we are not in a condition to pay even a fraction of that fee. I don’t understand why are they subjecting the students to such compulsion in these troubled times.”
Dean of Academic Affairs, Cluster University Srinagar, Prof Pirzada Mohammad Yousuf told Kashmir Reader that no one is forcing the students to pay their fees. “It is an admission procedure to be followed. The students need to be facilitated to next semesters, and there’s shouldn’t be any disruption in that process. This all comes under that process.”
When asked about the UGC guidelines, he replied that there will be no compulsion from the university to submit the fees. “We will extend the dates for submission of semester fees for the ease of students,” he said.

KALEEM GEELANI