EDUCATION

Poor infra & ‘retrospective fee hikes’ — issues plaguing ‘A++’ rated Gorakhpur university

Poor infra & ‘retrospective fee hikes’ — issues plaguing ‘A++’ rated Gorakhpur university

Students from economically weak backgrounds complain about fee hike, others want better infra, while DDUGU administration either dismisses concerns or blames lack of funds.

Washrooms without doors, regular protests for adequate provision of drinking water, delayed results, and an alleged 400 percent fee hike. These appear to be the issues faced by students of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University (DDUGU) in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency — a far cry from the coveted ‘A++’ rating it acquired from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in January this year, placing it among the top institutions for higher education in the state. 

Even as vice-chancellor (V-C) Rajesh Singh, whose tenure is set to end 4 September, has been denied an extension and Lucknow University’s Professor Poonam Tandon is to take charge soon after, there is a long list of issues plaguing the university established in 1956.

But for its more than two lakh students, a majority of them from 12 districts of eastern UP and neighbouring districts in Bihar, the gradual fee hike affected over the past three years in over 25 programmes is the most pressing issue. This led to a clash between students and the police after which the V-C was allegedly roughed up by a group led by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS-affiliated students’ body, on 21 July.

DDUGU registrar Ajay Singh denied claims about a fee hike and directed  to the fee structure listed on the university website

However, fee receipts issued to PhD scholars — in possession of — show that they paid Rs 6,388 as fee for six months, which was higher than the Rs 4,890 on the website.

Responding to queries from , a university official said on condition of anonymity, “The increase in fee for undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD and self-financed programmes in DDU Gorakhpur University in the academic session 2023-24 is still less than the fees currently applicable in other state-run universities in Uttar Pradesh.”

Claiming that the fee hike was affected only for self-financed courses, the official said in a statement, “The university is currently running 97 (self-financed) degree, diploma and certificate courses with a total student strength of 1,585. Out of 1,585 only 400 students are affected by the fee hike. Of the 97 courses, fee has been increased in only 16 while it has been reduced in 7 courses. And there has been no change in fees in 74 courses.”  

For most self-financed courses at the university, one doesn’t need to sit for an entrance test and admission is subject to availability of seats. Since these courses do not receive any government funding, their fee is also higher than that of the regular ones.

A faculty member, however,  “The main grouse is that even students enrolled before 2023-24 are being asked to pay the pending fee according to the new structure. This caused the most resentment, resulting in protests and even violence against the V-C when their (students’) voices went unheard.”