With the State government reducing fee structure for three medical colleges, students of Government Erode Medical College and Hospital staged a protest demanding the reduction in fees here on Friday.
Students said that IRT Perundurai Medical College and Hospital was converted as a government medical college in 2019. But instead of the government fee of ₹13,160, they continue to pay ₹3.85 lakh in the last two years.
They said that the government had last week reduced fees for Rajah Muthiah Medical College, Rajah Muthiah Dental College and Rani Meyyammai College of Nursing, after their continuous protest. “But despite many representations and protests, government fees are yet to be fixed for us and we continue to pay a very high fee”, they added.
Students said that apart from the fee, they have to pay ₹26,110 as other college fees, ₹56,000 as hostel fee, ₹48,000 as food expenses, advance of ₹25,000, ₹7,473 as university fee and spend ₹20,000 on books and accessories. “Thus, we have to pay ₹5,42,583 annually to the college,” they said.
While the students in the 11 government medical colleges in the State pay ₹13,160 as fee they have to spend over ₹5 lakh every year on education. “This is unfair to the student community”, they said and wanted the government fee to be collected as they are students of the government medical college.
