Thiruvananthapuram: The Commissioner for Entrance Examinations has published the details of the fees for MBBS course in self-financing medical colleges based on the High Court order issued on August 9. However, the order is silent on the scholarship scheme for BPL category candidates suggested by the fee regulation committee headed by Justice R. Rajendra Babu. The only mention about it in the notification on the fee structure is that each self-financing medical college will earmark Rs 5 lakh from the Rs 20 lakh fee fixed for each NRI seats.
The amount managements would get if the present fee structure is enforced as per the present decision without collecting the scholarship component in the NRI fees would be Rs 172.2 crore. If the scholarship amount is earmarked for 418 students, the managements could collect the same amount. As per the fee structure published in the website of the CEE, the fee for 85 percent seats will be Rs 85 lakh and for 15 percent NRI seats Rs 20 lakh. In the three medical colleges which entered into an agreement with the government, the fee structure will be as follows:
Academy of Medical Science, Pariyaram, Kannur: For 50 percent government quota- BPL/lower income (10 seats)- Rs 25,000, SEBC (13 seats)- Rs 45,000, Others- Rs 2.5 lakh, 35 percent management seats- Rs 10 lakh and 15 percent NRI seats-Rs 14 lakh MES Medical Sciences, Pariyaram, Kannur and Dr Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, Karakonam: For 50 percent government quota- BPL/lower income (14 percent seats)- Rs 25,000, SEBC (26 percent seats)- Rs 45,000, others- Rs 2.5 lakh, 35 percent management seats- Rs 11 lakh and Rs 15 percent NRI seats- Rs 14 lakh.
The total number of merit seats in self- financing colleges as per prospectus is 2253 seats and NRI seats 397 seats. Congress MLA V.D. Satheesan said that the state government could not even explain whether the scholarships were meant for BPL students or meritorious students. Educationist R.V.G. Menon was of the view that the previous LDF government had introduced a scholarship fund for BPL students by getting the corpus from cooperates. However, the government could only find money to fund the fee for only a limited number of students.
SFI state secretary M. Vijin said the government failed to constitute a scholarship scheme because the self-financing medical colleges had moved the court against the fee structure. “The government would now go in for steps to introduce the scholarship fund as the court had made ITS stand clear on the fee structure,” he said. KSU state president K.M. Abhijith said that the failure of the state government to evolve a guideline for the scholarship showed its apathy towards the students.
