Visva Bharati reduces fee hike by 50 percent

KOLKATA - Bowing down to the students’ demands, the authorities of Visva Bharati Saturday night decided to decrease the hiked tuition fees by 50 percent.

The university, set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan, had been experiencing unrest for long as the students were on an indefinite agitation to protest the hike.

University spokesperson Amitabha Chowdhury said: “We have decided to cut down the students’ fees by 50 percent after discussing it with the students’ representatives”.

“The admission fees will also be reduced for the internal students (who are already studying in the university). However, the external students will have to pay their fees on the basis of newly implemented rate. The students have also expressed their satisfaction over the authorities’ decision and we are expecting that normalcy will be restored soon,” he added

Terming it a “victory for the students”, student leader, Anupam Hazra said the authorities have also assured to reconsider the tuition fees for the external students during next month.

“If the authorities do not think for the external students, then we would launch a greater movement,” he warned.

The varsity faced the students’ ire after it decided to hike fees in June this year. The students’ unions called indefinite shut down in phases to protest the move.