Should merit be self-financed

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Kochi: While opening up professional education in the state to the self-financing sector more than a decade ago, the then chief minister A.K. Antony had given an assurance that two self-financing colleges would be equivalent to one government college, giving ample opportunities for meritorious students to study.
 
But ground reality today is such that even the 50 per cent government quota seats in government self-financing colleges have gone beyond the reach of meritorious students due to exorbitant fees.
 
Engineering courses have the highest number of branches and seats and are also the most sought-after. While the annual fee for B. Tech engineering in government and aided colleges is just 
Rs 6,200, the fee under the 50 per cent government quota of government self-financing colleges is Rs 35,000,  which  is just Rs 5,000 lower than the fee for 25 per cent lower income group under the government quota in private self-financing colleges. 
 
It was only last year that the government-supported IHRD, CAPE and KSRTC and other colleges raised the fees from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000. The fee in the 35 per cent management quota seats in government self-financing engineering colleges is Rs 65,000.
 
Meritorious students prefer government/aided colleges which have a long academic record and reputation, followed by government self-financing one and then reputed private self-financing ones in the option registration process every year. The umpteen other self-financing colleges are the last choice. The window for this year’s option registration is open until June 30.
 
Last year nearly 18,000 engineering seats fell vacant, while this year the number is expected to be much higher, according to the Kerala Self-Financing Engineering College Management Association.
 
However, no college, including government institutions, is ready to lower the fees. One of the main reasons for so many seats falling vacant is said to be the exorbitant fees charged by self-financing colleges in both government and management quotas, which is way beyond the capacity of the middle-class. Half of the government quota students in private self-financing engineering colleges have to pay an additional special fee of Rs 25,000. 
 
In the 35 per cent management seats in these colleges, students have to shell out Rs 99,000 and a special fee of Rs 25,000 and an interest-free refundable deposit of Rs 1.5 lakh. Being prudent, government-supported institutions have not yet started self-financing colleges in ayurveda, homeopathy, ag­r­iculture, veterinary and animal sciences and fisheries courses. The only college in the traditional siddha system is a private self-financing one with an annual fee of Rs 50,000.
 
There is only one dental college backed by the government, attached to the Pariyaram Medical Coll­ege, which along with two colleges offering MBBS seats, offers some relief for parents and students. The normal fee for BDS government quota students is Rs 1.2 lakh while for eight low income students it is Rs 23,000 and for eight economically backward students it is Rs 44,000. The fee for MBBS in five government medical colleges is Rs 25,000 annually while for BDS it is  Rs 23,000. 
 
The general government quota fee for MBBS in the two government supported self-financing colleges —Pariyaram and Kochi Co-operative Medical College — is set to go up from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.65 lakh this year, in keeping with the private medical college fees, dealing a further blow to meritorious students. However, for 10 low income category students, 13 SEBC students in Pariyaram and seven low income students and 13 SEBC students in CMC, the fee will be Rs 25,000.
 
The MBBS management quota fee in CMC has been set at Rs 6.5 lakh and at Pariyaram at Rs 5.5 lakh. The government order on self-financing medical fee is yet to be released and hence the fees of self-financing medical colleges are yet to be finalised. And NRIs are a class waiting to be fleeced!