AICTE Instructs Colleges to Not Insist on Payment of Full Fees from Students, and Not To Fire Teachers

AICTE has issued fresh guidelines after the council reportedly received grievances from faculty or staff regarding termination of services, and non-payment of salary, and from students regarding insistence by institutes for paying full year or full term fees. The All India Council of Technical Education has reiterated that owing to the National Emergency, which is COVID-19 pandemic, heads of institutions hold the responsibility of safeguarding interests of all stakeholders.

The council also said that all colleges and institutions must strictly adhere to the following instructions, as per the prevailing conditions failing which action will be taken as allowed by rules:

• Institutions and colleges have been asked to not insist on payment of full fees and collect in three instalments till normalcy is restored. Furthermore, this information has to be displayed on college websites as well as conveyed to students through e-mail.
• All faculty members need to be paid their monthly salaries, and they cannot be fired due to the pandemic. If any faculty member has been fired due to the pandemic, the decision has to be reversed says AICTE. Faculty members can only be terminated due to disciplinary reasons.
• Colleges and institutions have also been entrusted with discouraging fake news, and providing correct information to students. It is also advised that any information published on the official website of MoE, UGC or AICTE only may be relied upon, says AICTE.
• Colleges have also been encouraged to share their Internet bandwidth with near by schools and colleges, as well as students from other institutes to access their Internet WiFi.