Students, parents demand fee sop for PG courses too

Vijayawada: Students and parents associations demand that the government direct the PG colleges to release the certificates of the students who pursued PG courses between 2019 and 2021 pending clearance of the fee reimbursement dues.

They also demand that the government which was implementing several schemes like Jagananna Vidya Deevena undergraduate courses, Amma Vodi for students school students and Inter students should resume fee reimbursement for PG courses too.

It may be mentioned here that under Amma Vodi, Rs15,000 is deposited into the bank accounts of mothers. Under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena, over 11 lakh BTech, BCom, BSc, BPharmacy, Polytechnic and ITI students are being benefitted. It is only the PG students who are left in the lurch, the parents and teachers say.

Narrating their woes, they said due to increasing competition and demand for the professional courses many students opt for higher education and are joining private educational institutions. Because of financial constraints many families are struggling to pay the fee. Covid pandemic had added to their problems. S Narahari, president of the Andhra Pradesh Parents Association, said the government should strengthen the mechanism to avoid irregularities and implement the fee reimbursement for post-graduation courses also. He said the students should not suffer due to the policies of the government.

Velaga Joshi, former principal of SRR and CVR Government College, Vijayawada, said the government should take a decision on fee reimbursement for the PG courses in private educational institutions and clear the dues. State planning commission Vice-Chairman Malladi Vishnu said an inquiry was underway into the alleged irregularities and the government will take a decision later on implementation of fee reimbursement for PG courses.

On the other hand, some educational institutions said that they had admitted students when the scheme was in vogue. While the government should punish those who indulged in irregularities, if any, they should not punish all by not clearing the dues since 2019.

It is learnt that a reputed college in Vijayawada has to get Rs1.5 crore as fee reimbursement and another college in Machilipatnam is to get Rs 56 lakh as fee reimbursement.