Meghalaya: High fees in govt aided institutes, fees structure likely to be regulated soon

The Meghalaya Government today informed that it has received numerous representations from different sections of the society alleging that government educational institutes are charging exorbitant fees from the students.

This has posed to be a challenge for those who want to pursue their studies but are facing difficulties owing to their financial background.

Taking strong exception to the petitions that it had received, the Meghalaya Education Department has decided to go for regulating the fees structure, but only after a proper study is done and a report comes out regarding this.

Speaking exclusively to Northeast Live, Meghalaya Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma said, “I have received many representations, petitions from many quarters like NGOs, from the civil society, the students and even from the parents talking about the high fee structure in many government assisted institutions in the state. So as a department we are going to study on this, we will do the exercise, we will seek report from all the institutions on how much assistance the government is giving to these colleges, how much fees they are charging from the students, what is their expenditure because the existence of an institution is to serve, give quality education to the students.”

Sangma added that minimum and maximum limits for the fee structure would be fixed once it is regulated. This he said with special emphasis to the government aided educational institutions.

The Meghalaya Education Minister said, “However, we need a fund for the management of the structure, the government has limited fund to give assistance to all the institutions. However, there are limitations also. Therefore the government department will do the study and if needs be we will decide, after properly studying and receiving a report, we will discuss and decide to regulate the fees structure with the minimum and maximum limits in all the educational institutions of the state especially the government aided institutions.

Suppose in a government college they are charging Rs 2500 per student per semester, whereas is some different colleges of the state they are charging Rs 25000, Rs 30000 per student per semester. There is a huge difference. So we have to balance it out and lets give us sometime we will properly study and decide on this (regualting fees structure).”