Following a series of protests from the Opposition parties in Gujarat, the state government has reversed an earlier increase by the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) and lowered the annual fees for undergraduate medical courses.
The fee for government quota seats will be Rs 3.75 lakh, and for management quota seats, it will be Rs 12 lakh, according to the latest notification.
On June 28, GMERS had raised the annual fee for undergraduate medical courses at all 13 of the state’s colleges. This spike has an impact on state and all-India quota seats, which have gone up from Rs 3.3 lakh to Rs 5.5 lakh annually, a 66% increase. For management quota seats, fees have surged by 87%, scaling from Rs 9.075 lakh to Rs 17 lakh. Furthermore, the yearly fees for NRI quota seats have gone up by 13%, from $22,000 to $25,000.
Responding to the revisions in the fees, Samarth Bhatt, State Secretary of A.B.V.P. Gujarat Region, said, “After the fierce agitation of the Student Council, the Gujarat Government has reduced the fee by Rs. 2 lakh. Vidhati Parishad welcomes this decision. This victory belongs to the entire student body. We still urge the government to reconsider the management quota fee. The next decision on the management quota fee issue will be taken after discussions with the students who are involved in the medical field and their parents.”
Opposition’s Fierce Protest
Earlier, the Opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat hit out at the BJP Government in Gujarat for massively increasing fees in 13 medical colleges in the state under the GMERS.
Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil told media persons on July 8 that fees for the undergraduate medical courses in 13 colleges have been increased by up to 88 per cent.
On July 12, NSUI activists staged a demonstration at Gotri Medical College, expressing their discontent over the fee increases. The protest turned contentious when fake currency notes were thrown at the college dean, amidst slogans from opposing student groups.
Currently, pursuing an MBBS degree in Gujarat costs around 80 lakhs, significantly lower than the 25 to 30 lakhs required for studying abroad. Many students opt to go abroad due to affordability issues locally.
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