After an announcement in September about the hike in fee for MTech course in India’s premier institute, IIT, the HRD ministry has deferred the decision and said to take it up in the next meeting.
The developments by the ministry came in the backdrop of the protests by JNU students against the fee hike.
However, the HRD Ministry did not comment on the reasons for the decision being put on hold. The date for the next meeting is also not decided yet.
V Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi, said that the Mtech programmes at IITs recorded a dropout rate of over 50 per cent. He said that the students treated the courses as a stop-gap arrangement until they landed a job or cracked a competitive exam.
As per the reports, the IIT Council led by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, had approved a proposal to hike the fee for the masters programme and bring it to the level of the BTech courses in September.
The decision was taken on a recommendation by a three-member committee on reforms on the MTech programme in IITs.
It is to be noted that there are 23 IITs operation all over the country.