West Bengal appears to be reeling through the impact of a double whammy — the coronavirus pandemic and Cyclone Amphan which has severely hit the lives of the people including their livelihood and survival.
Amid such adversities and taking the financial constraints of families into consideration, a college in the state has set an example of standing by the community with its decision to keep their admission fee as low as ₹1 for its undergraduate (UG) courses.
Rishi Bankim Chandra College in Naihati has probably become the first college in the country to do so. The college has a fee structure which usually varies from ₹3,500 to over ₹11,000 depending upon the subjects.
‘In Naihati and its adjoining areas, most of the applicants and students come from poor families. We all know how COVID-19 pandemic has ruined the lives of many poor people after they lost their jobs,’ Dr Sanjib Kumar Saha, principal of the college told News18.
‘Not only COVID-19, but Cyclone Amphan also hit the rural economy to its worst and left people struggling. Therefore, recently in our governing body meeting, we have all unanimously decided to stand by these people and take the responsibility to reduce the burden of their total admission fee by ₹1 for 21 Under Graduate courses in our college,’ he added.
He further added that the fees for online forms will be ₹60 as usual, however, the admission fees for all the graduation courses will be ₹1. The online admission process is currently underway and the merit list will be published on August 17.
The initiative by the college authorities was welcomed by the students who termed it as a great decision towards ‘humanity’.
Speaking about the original course fee for the program, he said, ‘For journalism and microbiology, the course fee is higher but now all come under one bracket of ₹1. We all know that this will be challenging but we have accepted this challenge looking at the smile on the faces of students who welcomed the decision wholeheartedly. This is a golden opportunity for poor but brilliant students to fulfil their dream to make it big in life.’
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