Date:15/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/15/stories/2006091512340100.htm

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Dental colleges sign pact on fee structure

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The managements of private self-financing dental colleges have signed an agreement with the Government regarding the fee structure for this year's admission to the BDS programme. The president of the managements' association told presspersons that the agreement was for this year alone. He said the details of the agreement would not be revealed immediately as the Cabinet was due to deliberate on the same on Friday.

No consensus on engineering

However, a consensus was yet to be reached with the managements of private self-financing engineering colleges.

The managements of engineering colleges have agreed to offer scholarship to 15 per cent of students admitted in Government quota this year.

This offer was made by representatives of the managements at their talks with Education Minister M.A. Baby here on Thursday.

The scholarship — amounting to Rs.19,350, which is half of the fee suggested by the K. T. Thomas Committee — would be offered to students from the Below Poverty Line families and to those who have studied in Government schools in the Malayalam medium. For the rest of the seats, the fee suggested by the K.T. Thomas Committee would be collected, the representatives led by president of the managements' association G.P.C. Nayar told the Minister.

The Government said the managements could charge Rs. 7,000 extra per student admitted in the management quota if the fee for those admitted in the Government quota could be restricted to Rs.10,000. This offer was termed unacceptable by the managements. While the Government maintained that no agreement had been reached with the managements of engineering colleges, Mr. Nayar told The Hindu that the Education Minister had not opposed the proposal put forward by him. "We take this as an agreement, though, we did not sign one," he said. A Government official associated with the talks told The Hindu that there would be no more discussion with the managements of engineering colleges. "No consensus was reached during the talks," he said.

Fee for nursing courses

Meanwhile, the tuition fee for nursing colleges will be the same as that in the previous year, of Rs. 49,400, the amount prescribed by the K.T. Thomas Committee. At a discussion held by the Education Minister with the Association of Management of Self-financing Nursing Colleges on Thursday, it was decided that "no concession package" would be given to students for the current academic year.