Day after govt announces medical fee hike, parents and students demand rollback

Ahmedabad: On Saturday, a day after the increase in fees for about 1,200 private medical, dental, and paramedical colleges in the state, parents and students wanting to pursue medical, dental, and paramedical education staged protests at the office of the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC). On Friday, the committee announced new fees for medical colleges for 2024-25, while for paramedical and dental colleges, new fees were announced for the upcoming three years. The fee committee has allowed different colleges to increase their fees by up to 2 per cent and up to 25 per cent, with an average increase of 12 per cent. The new fee structures do not apply to Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) run 13 medical colleges.

Parents and students demanded a rollback of the increased fees, arguing that the hike will force students to pursue medical studies abroad. The protesters stated, "If fees in the state's medical colleges continue to rise in this manner, students from middle-class backgrounds will not be able to afford it anymore, and students will be forced to go abroad for medical studies."

This follows a similar fee hike in GMERS medical colleges, which led to strong protests from parents. Although the govt partially reduced the GMERS fee hike, the fee committee has now increased the fees for private medical colleges, placing an additional financial strain on families.

In response to the fee hike, parents and students gathered at the office of the committee in Ahmedabad to voice their anger. As the office was closed, the protesters left a memorandum outside, demanding the rollback of the exorbitant fee hike. They maintained that the fee increase is unjustifiable, particularly since students have already paid some fees along with their admission forms.