'No students have been denied access to online classes': ABES Engineering College dismisses students' claim

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The students of ABES Engineering College in Ghaziabad have alleged that the authorities are not allowing those who haven't paid the fees to attend the online classes. The students of the engineering college are continuously demanding that the fees of the current semester be reduced in light of the coronavirus pandemic. 

"We are being charged for most of the facilities which we are not using and will not use for the upcoming months. The college officials are forcing us to pay the fees otherwise they will not register us for the current semester," a student said. 

The students were asked to pay the fees latest by July 31, 2020. According to the notification issued by the college, the new session commenced from August 4, 2020. 

"You all are required to register yourself through student's login at College ERP on 4th and 5th August 2020.  The virtual teaching-learning will start from 5th August 2020 immediately after your online registration," the college notification stated. According to a mail from the college admin, as many as 34 students haven't paid the fees yet. 

"Before clearing dues, the registration portal will not be open and you will be unable to register. The faculty will be unable to mark your attendance in spite of you attending classes," the mail stated. 

"I have sent multiple emails to the accounts department of the college asking for the detailed description of the amount of the fees which should include all charges but they are not providing anything. They are just demanding an amount of Rs. 1,30,000 without any description of the amount," said a fourth-year student. 

"We are ready to pay the fees but at least give us detailed structure fees--tuition fee, library charges, book bank charges, and other charges," the student added. 

However, most of the students told indiatvnews.com that they only want to pay the tuition fees. "If fee reduction is not possible, then at least give us more time or allow us to pay in installments," said another student. 

What are the demands of ABES Colleges students?

1. All the students should be allowed to attend the online classes irrespective of the fact that they pay the fees or not.
2. Students are demanding that the college should tell them the full structure of the fee. 
3. Students are also demanding relaxation in the fees due to the financial crisis amid the pandemic. 
4. If relaxation is not possible then they should be allowed to pay the fees in installments

Meanwhile, ABES Engineering College Registrar Told indiatvnews.com that the registration process is mandatory and no students have been denied access to online classes. 

What ABES Engineering College has to say over the grievances raised by the students?

1. The Registration process is mandatory for all students before commencing any new academic session to ensure academic continuity of students for the next Academic Session. Accordingly, information about registration date and the process has been circulated among the students including date of commencement of classes and fee submission.  
2. The college has made arrangement to conduct online classes on Microsoft Teams in which online classrooms have been created by respective faculty and students can attend classes section wise. No student has been denied access the platform and online classes.  
3. As mentioned in your mail that students should be allowed to pay part fees, we want to submit that we are self- financed affiliated institution regulated by AKTU, AICTE and MHRD. We have not received any such direction from our regulatory bodies regarding fees. If we receive any direction from, it shall be bound adhered as per direction.  
4. It would be important to state here that we do not get any funding from any government (State or Central), we have to manage all our expenses from the fee collected from the students. When we try to fulfill our responsibilities towards our students, we are equally responsible for the well-being and livelihood of our 500+ faculty and staff whose salary is paid out of the fee collected from the students. 
5. Regarding extension of the fee submission date, please be aware that the fee demand letter was sent to all the students through mail in mid-June 2020 in which the last date was mentioned as 30th June to 10th July, 2020. The fee submission date was extended till 31.07.2020 on request from students and parents who were not in a position to pay as per the initial requested date. We understand that the pandemic has brought financial distress and we are more than happy to help our students and their parents. We also communicated to students that we even we wish to refund the money for the non-utilized period of hostel facility in the last session. Further, even after the last date i.e. 31.07.2020 of fee submission has passed, students are being allowed to pay their fees in full or part as per their convenience. No penalty or fine is being charged to them. 
6. As you mentioned that college is not responding on student’s mails, you would agree that it is very difficult to respond to every individual mail at the institute level. Therefore, to support our students, respective Head of Departments (HODs) have been conducting online orientation/meetings with the students before starting of the session. Apart from this, Class Coordinators/Student Mentors personally in touch with students through whatsapp, mails and calls. They are closely engaging with the students and discussing their problems with respective HODs so that their issues can be addressed and resolved personally one on one.