Fee dispute at IoE, annual engineering examination postponed

KATHMANDU, Sept 4: The dispute after the fee increase in the Institute of Engineering (IoE) under Tribhuvan University has not yet been resolved. Due to this dispute, the annual examination scheduled from Sunday has been postponed by five days. The institute's Assistant Dean Prof Dr Suraj Lamichhane said that the bachelor's degree examination scheduled by the institute from September 3 had to be postponed to the week of the fourth year because the students went on hunger strike to protest against the increase in semester examination fees.

In fiscal year 2021/22 only, the institute had to carry a debt of Rs 90 million for the operation of the institute, which has reached a state of financial collapse, and then the fee was increased by 176.78 percent. Students have gone on a strike to protest the fee hike, from hunger-strike to lockout. After the team led by the President of Pulchowk Engineering Campus Free Student Union, Biraj Aryal, said that there was not enough time to study due to the students protesting and many students would fail the exam, we agreed to postpone the exam. The lockdown has been opened and the examination is now scheduled to be held from 8th September," Assistant Dean Lamichhane said, "The vice-chancellor's office has formed a fee review committee. The new fee will be established after this committee conducts a study and proposes a fee.”

“However, moving the annual examination scheduled in this way due to the students' agitation will be fatal for the Institute of Engineering Studies,” said Prof Dr Durga Prasad Sangraula, former Principal of Pulchowk Engineering Campus. “Even so, there is a lot of confusion within Tribhuvan University. On the other hand, postponement of exams due to students' agitation is a sign that it will prove fatal for the institute,” he said, “The institute kept adding new subjects during the period of 27 years. However, the situation remained the same. The government did not increase any investment towards technical education. If the fee is not increased, the institute will have to be closed. But it is wrong to postpone the exam. Tomorrow, another group will come and protest again to postpone the exam.”

The students of the affiliated colleges of the institute protested against the decision of the implementation committee on 10 August that the fee of campus under the institute was increased from Rs 280,000 to Rs 775,000. According to Assistant Dean Lamichhane, the institute said that although some colleges are owned by the government, the government has invested almost zero in technical education and now it is difficult to afford the college, so the fee has to be increased after 27 years. The four-year fee for the undergraduate level of engineering has been fixed at 280,000 since 1996. He said that in the current situation, there is no option but to increase the fee as the old fee cannot be sustained.

"The Institute of Engineering has been drowning in debt for the past three years. In the current fiscal year, Rs 90 million loans have been added,” Assistant Dean Lamichhane told Republica that 500 students are in dormitories at low fees. The government does not pay for their infrastructure, services, electricity, lights, water, and cooking. Also, the government does not pay the expenses of drivers, couriers and office assistants,” he explained the problem, “The expenses are too much. The institute is struggling. Due to this situation, teachers cannot be paid salaries from November. There will be a situation where the institute has to be closed.” Not only this, 40% of the teaching posts in partial College are vacant and the institute has been raising funds from private sources. When the Chitwan Engineering College was opened four years ago, the government said to give Rs 50 million and five more teaching posts. But till today, the government did not arrange any amount and posts. Assistant Dean Lamichhane said, “The college has been teaching 24 students in each batch. If it earns Rs 600 thousand, the expenditure is Rs 12.5 million.” According to him, 140 engineers used to study 27 years ago, but now 2040 engineers study every year. But the institute is in crisis as the posts and service facilities are 27 years old.

Free Students Union President Biraj Aryal said that the student movement will continue until the institute cancels the increased fees. He also requested that the government should increase the budget for the Institute of Engineering Studies and provide solutions to the problems and create a comfortable environment for the activities of the institute to run smoothly.