Vijayawada: In a major relief to medicos pursuing MBBS and BDS courses under management quota, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to decrease the fee for category C (NRI quota) and category B (management quota) MBBS and dental students in private and self aided medical colleges.
At the same time, the authorities have also increased the MBBS, BDS fee for category A (convenor) quota.
The revised fee structure would be applicable to 17 private medical colleges and 14 dental colleges in the state.
Previously the MBBS and BDS medicos had to deliver charges for 5 years. However, after the new order, they will only need to pay charges for four and a half years. The annual fee will be collected at the beginning of each year but the new structure will be applicable only for said amount of years.
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Previously, during the older structure rupee 12155 was charged for category A students, and rupees 13.36 lakhs for Catagory B and 66 lakhs for Category C students were decided respectively. According to a recent report by TNIE, now, or category A students, the fee has been fixed at rupees 15000 per annum while rupees 12 lakhs for category B is decided and Rupees 36 lakhs for Catagory C.
Likewise, the BDS fee has been reduced to 4 lakh per year from the earlier 5.46 lakh under management quota, while it has been fixed at 13,000 a year for convenor quota seats. The students claiming BDS seats under NRI quota have to pay up to 12 lakh per annum, reports TOI
The New Indian Express reports that this came after the government considered the recommendations of Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monetary Commission (APHERMC) which stated that there is a significant difference between the fee structure of category A with category C and B in undergraduate Medical and Dental courses especially in private and aided colleges of the state.
Taking cognizance of the fact that there is a marked difference between the fee structure, the government took the initiative to reduce the fee for the students of management quota and NRI quota.
The order to this effect was issued by the government; these directions will only be applicable for MBBS and BDS students between the academic sessions of 2020-21 to 2020-23. APHERMC Secretary Rajesh Shekhar stated that Category C seats are also increased by 3 times than that of category B.
He further added"No college is left out and all are included in the list. These are the only private colleges in the State where medical education is available. No college permission is withdrawn."
According to the daily, the order also warned that if any medical college charges the student additionally ignoring the guidelines, they will have to face serious consequences from the authorities. The authorities have instructed that no extra charges under the pretext of donation or any other capitation fee can be secured by the college authority otherwise there will be able to be prosecuted under Section 9 of Act 5 of 1983, apart from attracting penalty under the APHERMC Rules, 2019.
Authorities also clarified that the annual fee will be charged including tuition fees, special fees, laboratory fees, library fees, computer or internet fees, maintenance and amenities fees, extracurricular activities fees, development fees, and other recurring expenditures. However, the fees do not include transport fees, hostel fees or mess charges, registration and administration fee, and refundable laboratory or library fee. Along with it, the authorities have also strictly asked the colleges to pay the stipend to all the UG Medical and dental students following the guidelines followed by the other government colleges during the period of their compulsory rotatory internship reports the daily.