Sido Kanhu Murmu University faces backlash over B.Ed enrolment fee hike

Dumka: The Sido Kanhu Murmu University’s (SKMU) decision to hike B.Ed enrolment fees has triggered widespread anguish among the student community in Dumka. The students association on Monday threatened to launch a stir demanding immediate rollback of the hike.Recently, the varsity announced to raise the enrolment fee from Rs 88,000 to Rs 1.30 lakh besides increasing the annual fee to Rs 65,000 from 44,000.Criticising the move, the Students Coordination Committee (SCC), a conglomerate of various student bodies, has now warned of agitation and the closure of concerned constituent and affiliated colleges offering the B.Ed courses here.A delegation from the SCC, led by Shyamdev Hembram, submitted a memorandum to SKMU on Monday. Hembram said that student representatives had not been consulted before the decision to raise the fees to such exorbitant levels.“If this decision is not withdrawn immediately, we will be left with no option but to lock all the B.Ed colleges running under the SKMU and organise sit-in on the respective campuses," Hembram told TOI.The memorandum did not specify a date for the commencement of the agitation or set a deadline for the reversal of the fee hike.Hembram said, “Admission in the B.Ed course was already expensive. Now sudden increase in the fee by such a huge amount is unjust.”He explained that the B.Ed fee was initially Rs 12,000, which was increased to Rs 44,000 and then to now Rs 88,000, under the pretext that every B.Ed college have to pay monthly salaries to teachers."However, under SKMU, many B.Ed colleges continue to face teacher crunch while students kept paying increased fees since years,” the student leader pointed out.Rajeev Ranjan Sharma, SKMU registrar, said that the matter pertaining to the SCC's memorandum would be discussed with vice-chancellor Kunul Kandeer soon. "The decision to increase the fees was taken in February for the academic session of 2025-27," Sharma said.