“Delhi University’s Department of English has increased the fees for its PhD programme from ₹1,932 to an unprecedented ₹23,968″, various teachers claimed.

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Meanwhile, left affiliated student group –SFI Delhi University strongly condemned the hike in fees of the English department.

“Rising education costs burden students and hinder accessibility to quality higher education. We strongly oppose the fee hike at Delhi University, for it is a blatant attack on publicly funded education. The move limits opportunities and exacerbates financial stress on students and their families. Education should be a right, not a privilege, and we urge for fair and affordable education for all,” it said in a statement.

In a post on Facebook, Assistant Professor of Physics at Miranda House, Abha Dev Habib said the Department of English of Delhi University (DU) has increased the fees for its PhD programme from ₹1932 (last year) to an unprecedented ₹23,968.

She termed the hike of over 1200% “unacceptable and unfortunate”.

“Nothing can explain this kind of inflation. It is unacademic as this fee hike will reduce diversity and adversely impact students. Scholarships and concessions cannot be a substitute for affordable fees for all,” she wrote on Facebook

The fees for all other streams for their PhD this year are close to ₹4400, she further claimed.

“For other Departments also, the fees have been doubled – which is also rather steep. However, the fee hike of the PhD programme, Dept of English involves a more than tenfold rise.

She demanded that the fee hike needs to be rolled back immediately.

“Students were informed of this fee hike very late this does not figure in the PhD Bulletin and were asked to pay the fees and take the seat or leave it,” associate professor Vijaya Venkataraman said.

(With ANI inputs)

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Updated: 02 Nov 2023, 08:19 AM IST