Students cheer IIM fee cut repeal

Students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the Union human resource development minister Arjun Singh to rollback the fee cut announced earlier by the then minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

Classes for the fresh batch of the post graduate programme at IIM-A commenced on Monday. There are 260 students for the PGP and around 40 for agri-business Management.

Director of IIM-A Bakul Dholakia and employees of the institute were also happy over the fee cut repeal.

"We are very happy and welcome the initiative of the new HRD minister," Dholakia said.

"We are happy with the government's decision to maintain the initial fee structure and let the institute operate without any influence from the government," said Mehul Kain, first year student of PGP.

"The autonomy of the institute is protected now. The quality of education offered here will improve," said C L Keerthi Vasan, a first year student of PGP.

Anshuman Panwar, a second year PGP student, said, "In a country like India, the government should stop subsidising higher education and instead divert those limited resources to primary education. It is absolutely imperative for the government to trust and keep faith in the professors of IIMs."

Shreeraman Vaidyanath, a second year student of PGP, said, "We welcome the decision. IIMs should be allowed to operate freely."