The postgraduate (PG) students of Azim Premji University (APU) have been protesting for eight days now, alleging that the university is forcing them to pay a mandatory shuttle fee of ₹8,500 per semester.
The shuttle service ferries students from their KGA residences outside the campus to the campus. Students have alleged that the APU has made it compulsory for even non users of the service to pay the fees.
“It is physically laborious to walk from the residences to the campus and some of our seniors had faced sexual harassment on that stretch and that was why they demanded these shuttles. However, when we sought admissions at the university, there was no mention of this shuttle fee in the fee structure mentioned on the website or anywhere else. We were only made known about it when we got our offer letters,” a PG student said.
The students said that with many studying there on 100% scholarships, it was difficult for them to pay ₹17,000 a year for shuttle fees and called the rule “unfair” and “unjust”. They added that the rule had caused stress to the students.
They further said that while a part of the security deposits of scholarship students were deducted for shuttle fees, the assistantship stipend of students, who worked at the university during end-semester breaks, was also deducted for the same.
After boycotting classes last week, on Monday the students tied black scarves in protest. “For the first week, we did not get any response to our protests. Just today (Monday), the Vice Chancellor said that a meeting will be held on Tuesday to discuss the issues,” the students said.
The students are demanding a complete rollback of shuttle fees and the return of fees which has already been deducted. They are also asking for better representation in policy making decisions in the university.
When The Hindu reached out to university about the issue, it said: “Azim Premji University has no comments to offer at this point”.
