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NGO sponsored students face fee ‘blackmail’
You’ve heard of engineering and medical colleges who charge more than the fixed fee once a student from the Common Entrance Test (CET) quota reports to gain admission. You’ve heard of well-to-do parents not concerned about shelling out a few thousands additionally, as long as their wards are not harassed in the college.
But Bangalore has a new ‘feather’ in its practice of imposing extra fees on susceptible students - charging excess money from children who are being educated on charity.
Seven students from economically weaker backgrounds were recently asked by their respective colleges to pay up Rs 3,000 to Rs 12,600 as fees under different heads, some of them inexplicable.
What is different about these students is the fact they are talented but their parents cannot fund their higher education.
“Soon after getting the seat, these students reported to the colleges they had chosen. We had paid up Rs 17,000-plus to the CET Cell for each student. Two more students have got BDS seats in a dental college near Yelahanka. All were denied admission for a long time. Now, some of the colleges have agreed to let them join classes, but the identity card and library cards have not been issued yet, when other students in the same class got identity cards,” said Srikanth Hampiholi, a volunteer with the non-government organisation (NGO), Friends of Children Trust.
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