All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) has appealed to the state government and Manipur Nursing Council to reduce the course fees set by different private B Ed colleges and nursing colleges for the current academic session.
AMSU also demanded formation of a state-level committee for fixing acceptable rates of fees at the earliest.
In a release issued by publicity and information secretary of the AMSU, Lhunpao Lupheng, it stated that the lockdown has affected the normal life and economy of the people in the state.
The union has appealed that the private schools till Classes upto XII either to exempt tuition fees altogether or to collect minimal fees for the lockdown months.
The state government had responded favourably by issuing an order instructing private schools not to charge tuition fees for the months of April, May and June and to collect 30 per cent tuition fees with effect from July to the remaining academic months and to pay 50 per cent salary of the staffs for the whole academic months.
Stating that the state has around 15 different B Ed colleges in the state the release added that the state government on August 12, 2015, issued an order allowing government B Ed colleges to charge maximum Rs 30,000 as course fees while the private B Ed colleges were advised to charge a maximum Rs 68,000.
However, different B Ed colleges have defied the order by collecting inflated course fees in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,20,000 as per their wishes, the release added.
It added that NCTE guidelines 2002 and 2010 clearly states that one state-level committee for fixation of fees with not less than seven members should be constituted to monitor as to how fees are to be collected.
As such, the state government should constitute such a committee at the earliest and monitor if the private colleges are following the prescribed guidelines properly, the release said.
Further, it added that students pursuing different courses such as ANM/FHW, GNM, BSc Nursing, Post Basic B Sc Nursing, M Sc Nursing etc in different institutions of the state have to invest a huge amount while pursuing the said courses outside.
Around 20 nursing institutions currently operate in the state offering different courses, thus helping the economy of the state to some extent.
However, the rules and regulations and fee structures to be followed by these nursing institutes, recognized by the Indian Nursing Council and Manipur Nursing Council are not in place in the public domain or official website.
The president and registrar Manipur Nursing Council should publicly clarify whether Manipur Nursing Council Act, 2005 and 2008 are still in force or not, it demanded while making a clear cut point on the need to cut back on the course fees. It added.
