Edu-leaders

A panel of experts appointed by the Human Resource Development Ministry has recommended that the fees of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) across the country be raised five-fold. With this, the institutes will not be dependent on state funds and will thus, have more autonomy.

The committee is headed by nuclear scientist and Chairman of IIT Mumbai’s Board of Governors, Anil Kakodkar. It also plans to devise a bank loan scheme to ease the burden on the students. The loan will attract no collateral security or personal guarantee.

The current fees of the IITs is about Rs75,000-1,00,000 including hostel and all other charges. The committee has recommended raising it by five times. This revised fees excludes hostel and other living expenses.

The fees will vary for all IITs across the country as they run various programmes and have different cost structures.

The committee report says that the fees charged by the IITs should cover the entire operational cost of education, which is about 30% of the total cost of education. It also suggested that the MHRD should provide the full fees and living expenditure for all students in IITs, undergraduate and postgraduate, from weaker sections. It also says that every student whose parents’ income is less than Rs4.5 lakh will be offered a scholarship to cover the fees, and a monthly stipend.

The report will now be placed before the council of IIT for final decision.