Students cannot be forced to deposit fees during lockdown: AICTE

New Delhi : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has written a letter to all the colleges and universities providing courses on engineering, management, architecture and pharmacy, instructing them not to charge any fees from the students till lockdown.

The AICTE has issued a letter to these colleges on the instruction of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The letter stated that students can’t be forced to deposit fees during the lockdown. It also contains instructions to pay the salaries of teachers and not to sack them.

A senior official of the Ministry of Human Resource Development said. “Instructions have been given to take this step keeping in mind the interests of students and teachers during the lockdown”.

AICTE Secretary Prof. Rajiv Kumar also asked all colleges and universities to put up the information on their website and notice board.

It has also been requested to not believe on any news shared on social media. Teachers and students have been advised to cross check the latest updates on the official websites of AICTE, UGC and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Also, the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme will also continue as usual.

Students who have not been able to do internship due to the lockdown can complete it online from home.

At the same time, the UGC committee is preparing the report on online examination and semester examination. Based on the report, the AICTE will release a new academic calendar for 2020 and a new guidelines for the annual examination.