With the horrors of the second wave still fresh in people's mind and the impending third wave of COVID-19, students are left with nothing but uncertainty. Amidst this, students of Maharashtra Institute Of Technology (MIT) University in Pune have raised issue of their college, International School of Broadcasting and Journalism (ISBJ), 'looting' them in the name of 'special term' to be conducted for the debarred students.
However, as uncertainty continues, with many students losing their loved ones to the second wave of COVID-19, the college has sent circular to students asking them to pay Rs 8,000 for each subject they're debarred in.
Amid this, a voice recording of BA JMC final year student, Vishwajyot Rajankar and the Director of ISBJ, Krishnamurthy Thakur has gone viral on social media. The voice recording is a deterrent how education system is used as means of gains by private universities to earn hefty fees while returning nothing but coarseness. In the audio clip, the Director Thakur, can be heard shunning the student when he asked to lower the amount of debarred fees as the pandemic has hit everyone equally.
While speaking to FPJ, Vishwajyot said, "We received a mail from the College on December 10, 2019 that a special term has been approved by the University to create eligibility for FR students that it will be conducted from December 12 to January 19, 2020. But, within next few days, we received another mail stating that the 'special term' had been called off by the Management"
"We tried to follow up on this issue for the longest of time but did not receive any response from the college or University. Now, after almost one and half year when we're done with our final year exams and about to graduate from the College, the Management asks us to pay Rs 8,000 per subject. If you calculate it, if one student is debarred in four subjects, he/she has to pay Rs 36,000 and attend a three week special term. This is abrupt. We demand the college to reduce the fees for special term as many of our batchmates have lost their parents, loved ones or are in any of financial crunch".
Meher, a final year student said, "When I spoke to the Director, he was upright rude and mean to me when I told him I lost by father two months ago. He blatantly said 'So what can I do, many people die everyday?'. Director is not even ready to listen to our woos and recommendations. My dad was sole bread earner, the bank has seized his accounts, how do I pay this amount?". "This is exactly like they're giving us degree in return for the money. I don't want to buy my degree. And the management is not even stating reasons as to why were we debarred in the first place".
Spandan Fulkar , whose father recently recovered from an ailment after being in ICU for a long period, said, "All our money went into his treatment. We're facing financial crunch and at the moment have no funds to pay to the college. When my father approached the Director, he persistently rejected all our requests even after my father showed him financial condition".
50 out of the 300-350 batch of students from the final year of BA JMC have been debarred and asked to pay Rs 8,000 per subject to be eligible.
FPJ tried contacting director of ISBJ, Krishnamurthy Thakur for a comment but he remained unavailable.
