Free ship for poor students in private engineer colleges

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, May 2, 2007
THE GOVERNMENT will make it mandatory for all private engineering colleges in the state to reserve seats for economically backward students. It wants 10 per cent of its seats free and another five per cent made available at half the normal fees.
To compensate for the revenue lost, the colleges will be allowed to introduce paid seats. It can charge higher fees for 10 per cent of its seats, which will be called the management quota. All three quotas will be introduced simultaneously.
Often, needy students pass WBJEE but don’t go for counselling because they cannot pay the tuition fee charged by private engineering colleges. The move is aimed at benefiting them, and the state hopes colleges will take the management quota bait.
“Private engineering colleges can introduce a management quota if they offer 10 per cent free seats to meritorious but economically backward students, and five per cent seats for the same category at half the tuition fees,” state higher education minister Sudarsan Roychoudhuri said, without specifying when the quotas would be introduced.
Insiders said the government would send circulars to all engineering colleges in the next five days. The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), which governs all 62 private engineering college in the state, has already received the circular.
“Though we are yet to make an official announcement regarding this, the matter has already been discussed at a very high-level meeting. If the higher education minister wants, it will be implemented from this academic session itself,” a government official said.
The management quota has already been introduced in state medical colleges. Though there were initial protests, well-to-do students, especially NRIs, are paying for such seats. At the private engineering colleges, students can get admitted under the quota after appearing for WBJEE.
The SFI had recently urged the state government to introduce a management quota in private engineering colleges. “Private engineering colleges anyways take in some students with donations. If we legalise this process then the colleges will make their money and will at the same time be in a position to offer free and subsidised seats to needy students,” said SFI state president Sudip Sengupta.
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