Delhi University may waived off fee for SC, ST students

Delhi University is planning to launch ‘means-based’ fee waiver for schedule caste/schedule tribe (SC/ST) students. DU registrar Alka Sharma said that the details for the proposal of need based scholarship need to be worked out. This proposal will have to be either cleared by the Executive Council or introduced by the vice-chancellor using his emergency powers.

Delhi University’s SC/ST Teacher’s Association had been asking the authorities to waive fee not just of SC/ST students but for all students from financially weaker section. Dhani Ram, President of the Association, said, "They agreed in principal and said they would set up a committee to work out the processes."

One of the biggest concerns regarding the four-year undergraduate programme was the added financial cost it would bring to students who already struggle to pay the fee for three year. Along with tuition fee-waiver, there have also been public statements by universities official promising waiver of development fee by the colleges.

However, this policy if gets implemented will going to held large number of students enrolled in DU, yet not all are impressed by this proposal. Hany Babu, a member of the English department and of advocacy group, Alliance for Social Justice, said, "As far as I understand, this doesn't rest on the university alone. The colleges need to decide. This is part of the university's policy of allurement. If they were serious about this, they would've already done it for the three-years programme. I don't think it's feasible."