By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, June 30: Students of Tribhuvan University (TU) have been staging protests demanding for tuition-free MPhil and PhD programmes since long.
TU Students’ Struggle Committee submitted a memorandum to university officials on Friday and staged a demonstration in front of the Vice Chancellor’s Office from Sunday.
The struggle committee led by Sangharsha Dahal demanded state investment in higher education to ensure access of all students to education.
The students also demanded that MPhil and PhD programmes should be included under regular programme which will help reduce the current fees. Now, the courses are run privately by the university.
Dahal informed that currently TU has been charging Rs. 80,000 from each student which is not scientific.
The students of the Department of Sociology and Humanities have objected to the arbitrary implementation of MPhil and PhD programmes in TU campuses as if they were private institutions. The agitating students have also announced an indefinite agitation.
Shiva Bhusal, Rector of the Tribhuvan University, said that TU alone cannot decide whether to teach for free or on a grant basis. This is possible only if the government allocates budget for the programme.