The higher education in India is becoming an exclusive right of the financially sound class. In Pondicherry, a union territory, the liquor could buy cheap, but higher education sells dear. The fee of various courses in Pondicherry University skyrocketed in the current academic year. Computer Science and MBA courses have faced 225 and 120 per cent increase respectively in fee structure compared to last year. Almost all streams have experienced the hike in educational fee which would be a blow for the students from economically deprived class.

Notably, good quality higher education institutions in India are finger countable. Even now, the best minds in India find it hard to secure a seat in a quality educational institution. This is one of the cardinal reason for the brain drain from this country. The excessive elevation in fee structure in Academies like Pondicherry University would make the social and economic marginalisation more firm. The weaker section, won’t be able to cross the barrier of the educational divide and the dominance of the educational and economically higher class would remain perpetual.

Significantly, the hike in tutelage cost in the Pondicherry University is the aftermath of the General Financial Rules (GRF) of the government which urges the varsities in India to attain financial self-reliance. According to the Office Memorandum (OM) send to the university authorities, only 70% of the expenses would be furnished by the State, rest 30% has to be raised by the institutions itself through their own means. Obviously, the most plausible method for universities is to increase the fee of the students to meet their financial requirements. However, this is an ironical move from the government which was eager to provide reservation for the financially deprived upper class. The fun part is they could secure a seat because they are economically backward, but they couldn’t pursue education because it is impossible for them to bear such towering educational expenses. The centres of excellence which are obliged to run on the revenue-generating model would steer away from its crux principle of providing a platform for unleashing thoughts and new ideas to mere lucrative coaching centres. The compromise on the quality of the higher education system would wane the holistic and sustainable development of the country.

Interestingly, public spending on higher education is plummeting continuously. In the last budget itself, Public spending on education has fallen to 3.71% of the total union budget in the fiscal year 2017–18, compared to 4.68% in 2016–17 and during the last budget the funding for Higher Education Funding Agency(HEFA) has been reduced by 25 per cent. The government which profligately spending money to erect statues and conducting Melas has found hesitant to allocate funds for the fulcrum of social and economic mobilisation. On the top of that, NITI Aayog, the government think tank has recommended a 6% of the GDP spending on education and the State is peddling in the exact opposite direction of what it’s own intellectual cohort has advocated.

The Pondicherry University fee raise is not an exclusive event. The IIMs collectively witnessed a 5-17% increase, and other higher tutelage centres are soon to follow the trend. Much of the Central Universities haven’t published their fee structure in its prospectus which gave them the ability to increase the cost of teaching willy-nilly during mid semesters. Such shifting of the financial burden to the shoulders of students is an unacceptable and indefensible act. The Universities in London follows the same pattern of raising their own funds and acquire little financial support from the State. Hence, the fee structure over there could be highly expensive even for an above average family. However, the economic, as well as academic conditions of that country, provide the opportunities for part-time employment and a higher possibility of placements after the courses. In India, the best brains are already channelised into professional courses which can guarantee a higher income. The increase in the educational expenses would further impede the flow of intelligent persons into social sciences and other streams which could not assure readily job after the education.

The protests in the Pondicherry with the collective participation of almost all students union was a landmark event. The authorities have requested the students union to a discussion regarding the fee structure and other demands raised by the protestors. The head of students union claimed that they would call on the strike again if authorities are not ready to lower the fee structure. Such actions are required throughout India to tame the government and universities from acting like a tuition centre.

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