Law school students continue protest against fee hike

Source: newindianexpress.com

BENGALURU: Students of the National Law School of India University staged a silent protest against a fee hike at their campus on Saturday. Representatives of the Student Bar Association put forth three demands in a meeting with the executive council.

“One is to rollback the fee hike from `1.80 lakh to `2.30 lakh per year. Two, removal of marks for attendance should be discontinued and reform of the examination department. Thirdly, we put forward expectations from the new Vice-Chancellor who will take charge soon,” said a student.The association is concerned at the affect the fee hike will have on students from lower economic backgrounds, especially those who are on education loans and partial scholarships.

“For instance, there is a student whose family’s annual income is `1 lakh and has a part-time scholarship. What will happen to such people? There are some over the age of 25, who had worked previously to save up for their education. The fee hike notification was sent suddenly, 15 days prior to the beginning of the semester from July 1.  Some of them are considering dropping out as they cannot afford the hiked fee,” another student said, adding,”The executive council said this decision was taken two years ago and the order cannot be revoked. They only said that a high-level committee will be formed to look into students loans and scholarships. The SBA has asked students not to pay any fees until any sign of retraction of fee hike is made by the executive council.”

In the meeting, it was decided that an academic council meeting will be convened to look into the discontinuance of attendance marks and other measures the students want relaxed.“For example, 95 per cent attendance fetches 5 marks. The courses are hard to pass here as it is. Each year, 15 to 30 people suffer a year’s loss. The examination department needs major changes as they put students into considerable stress. For instance, if you give your paper for revaluation, it can be a whole year before they get the result. As per an internal student survey, 76% of NLS Bengaluru students suffer from some kind of mental health issues. Demands put forward for these few months ago have not been acted on at all,” the student said.

The students previously put forward measures they wanted implemented to support the mental health of students, in reference to the student suicide that took place earlier this year. These included mental health check-ups during admission and regular follow-ups and tie-up with NIMHANS so they can train students to be gatekeepers, and a 24/7 helpline. While the university has counsellors, they are available only for a few hours a day, they complained.