Date:30/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/30/stories/2008053053630400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Government should not accept plea for fee hike: PMK

Special Correspondent

Ramadoss suggests that the committee hold a general enquiry

CHENNAI: The State Government should not accept the plea of self-financing educational institutions to hike the fee, Patali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss on Thursday said.

In a statement, Dr. Ramadoss suggested that the Justice Balasubramaniam Committee (formed to look into the fee structure for students admitted under government quota in self-financing engineering and medical colleges) hold discussions.

The Committee should hold a general enquiry in which representatives of students, parents, political parties and social welfare organisations should be invited to share their views.

At a time when many parents appealed to the Government to reduce the fee in self-financing institutions announced last year, the Government should not accept the proposal of these institutions to hike the fee, he said.

Statistics revealed that the finance allotted for education in many State budgets was coming down.

This was happening even in the so called developed States and Tamil Nadu was one among them.

This was due to the handing over of higher education to the private sector, Dr. Ramadoss charged.

In Tamil Nadu, of the total engineering colleges 95 per cent were self-financing institutions, in the arts and science it was 60 per cent and in teacher training institutions 75 per cent were in the private hands, he pointed out.

In future, the Government should increase the allocation for higher education to help people from all walks of life, particularly the poor and the downtrodden to take up higher education, he said.