Pune University Students Protest Against Fee Hike

Share this News:

Sharveya Parasnis

Pune, 28th December 2022: Students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) organised a protest today against the University administration, demanding that the University roll back the recent fee hikes and provide hostel accommodations. The students sat in front of the University’s main building at 10:00 am today and raised slogans.

Savitribai Phule Pune University, which had not hiked its fees in over a decade, had decided to raise its fees in 2020. However, the university stayed the decision due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the lockdown ended, the university decided to go ahead with the new fee structure.

This was met with protests by many students. The University Student Action Committee has organised three protests in the past six months. The first was on 11th July and the second on 11th October, when the University promised to convene a high-level committee to examine the issue. However, as the students did not receive any satisfactory feedback from the committee, they decided to organise this third protest today.

Tukaram Shinde, a member of the committee and a PhD student, said, “The University has increased fees across the board without any clear criteria. The exam fees were only Rs190 before 2020 but it is Rs1,070 in 2022. They have also almost doubled the hostel fees.”

The committee members also alleged that many students had been evicted from their hostel rooms on short notice.

Shinde went on to say that the University had so far only provided false assurances and delayed promises. Shinde and other students plan to sit in protest outside the University’s main building until their demands are accepted.