IITs Announce Fee Waiver for Physically Challenged Students

To reduce the burden on physically challenged students and to make education more inclusive, the IIT council has announced a fee waiver for them. The council is also reconsidering their recent proposal of increasing the tuition fees for other students.

By Shreya Pareek

October 8, 2015

In a move that will make education more inclusive, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) council has decided to waive fees for physically disabled students.

The decision was confirmed by Human Resource Development Minister, Smriti Irani, via Twitter on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015.

Happy to report that IIT Council has decided to waive off fees for our physically challenged students.
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) October 7, 2015

The IIT council, which is the highest government-nominated body of the 16 IITs, met on Tuesday and also discussed the recent proposal of fee hike.

The IIT joint admission board (JAB) had earlier proposed that the tuition fee of students should be increased from Rs. 90,000 to Rs. 2.5 lakh, to meet recurring expenses of the institute. Smriti Irani, who heads the IIT council, has put the proposal on hold and has set up a committee to examine the matter.

The council will also be looking at the ways to enhance student loans and increase scholarships for needy students.

Photo: cpstown.com

As per a report by the Times of India, Irani said that interest of students from economically and socially weaker sections should be kept in mind and decisions like fees hike should not be rushed into.

JAB has also decided to increase the quota of students appearing for joint entrance exam (JEE advanced) from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh. To ensure that students are not pressurised by the course, the council has introduced a new plan called Peer-group Assisted Learning (PAL), where weaker students will be mentored so that they can adjust into the system easily.

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