IIT-B students write to Prime Minister, express concern over education, jobs

MUMBAI: The students’ fraternity of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, is in a fix over the convocation ceremony being held on Saturday at the institute campus that will have Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chief guest.

Through a letter on social media, students have expressed their dismay over the government’s efforts towards increasing job opportunities for youngsters and its silence on the decreased budgetary expenditure on higher education.

The letter asks the PM, “We would like to question the contribution of the ruling government in higher education. The expenditure of the government on education is abysmally low, and it is almost negligible on higher education, compared to many other countries. Budgetary expenditure on higher education is in steep decline for the last few years as more and more private universities are coming up and public universities are compelled to hike their fees, leading to difficulties for a large number of students and forcing many out of higher education.”

Pinpointing the falling employment rate, the letter said, “Despite our privileged status as students of IIT-B, we are concerned about the falling rate of employment across the country. The government has managed to create very less number of jobs over the last few years.”

While several post-graduate students have decided to boycott the convocation ceremony due to the allegedly tedious formalities the institute has enforced in order to get a special entry pass for the same, there won’t be any protest or chaos when the PM visits the institute.