Fee hike stir: Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology to shut for a week

HYDERABAD: The Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), which has been in the limelight due to student protests, will remain closed next week.

On Monday, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) took out a rally from Gandipet to the principal’s cabin at CBIT, where they demanded immediate revocation of the fee hike. Following an argument, the principal announced that the college would be closed for a week.

Ravinder Reddy, the principal of CBIT, said, “Our first-year students had their exams on Monday, and agitating students disturbed them with their jeering and sloganeering. We have a High Court order which gives us the right to collect fees. To restore normalcy on campus, we have decided to suspend classes for a week and postpone the first-year students’ exams.”

The college authorities plan to hold discussions with parents in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable decision. “We are ready to help children from poor financial backgrounds,” the principal said.

We will never force anyone to pay more than they can. Parents can share their concerns with us at any time,” the principal said.

He said that the new scholarship schemes that had been promised would be implemented immediately by the management.

Students said that classes had been suspended just to ensure that that the students did not conduct protests. Akash Rao, a student of the college, said, “A decision should be taken at the earliest. It has been over a week and we are tired of the management not giving us any assurance.”

Members of the ABVP said that they would continue to protest until the “illegal fee hike” was revoked.