KNB News Desk
Srinagar 31 May (KNB): The students of Engineering and Technology of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) on Monday said that they are seeking an extension in a semester fee payment which has been kept mandatory before submission of examination forms.
The aggrieved students of Engineering and Technology told Kashmir News Bureau that they are not in the condition of paying the fee as of now, given the crumbling financial conditions by Covid19 lockdown. “We would pay the fee, but for now, we want to have some extension in its payment so that our examination form gets submitted without any hitch,” said the Engineering student, adding that the authorities have kept fee submission necessary before the submission of examination forms.
One of the students further said that the fee they are asked to submit includes hostel and bus fees. He said they have barely remained in the hostel for some days and not even used the bus services. “At least the university authorities should waive off the bus and hostel fees, and we would certainly pay the remaining semester fee after some time of extension in it,” he said.
However, the students further said that they are also facing issues with the examination pattern the university has put forth, which includes MCQs for some departments and one question of 30 marks for the students of other departments. “We have to appear online for an upcoming examination, but the university authorities are saying that any glitch or crash of a link will be on students’ heads and would be marked absent,” he said.
On contacting the Finance officer of IUST regarding the issue, he said that a meeting is probably going to be convened in a day or two regarding the submission of semester fees of the students, and the issue is under consideration.
While questioning the officer regarding the including of hostel and bus services charges into the semester fees of the students, which the students are demanding to be waived off as they have not availed the services, he said, “If some services have not been utilized by the students then the fees for it would be waived off and it will be decided in the coming meeting.”
When KNB contacted the Mohammad Amin Bhat Controller Examination of IUST regarding the students’ allegation of keeping them absent, as decided by authorities, on any malfunction or crashing of link during their upcoming online examinations, he said that if there would be any technical issue during the examination, it cannot be put on students’ head. “It is in our statutes that if some students miss the examination on genuine issues, we have to conduct it again. Now, if there would be any glitch during the examination, it cannot be put on the student’s head,” Bhat said. (KNB)