Aditi Tandon http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/physically-challenged-to-study-at-iits-for-free/143209.html Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 7 Physically challenged students who wish to study at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) need not worry about the education cost any more as the IIT Council has decided to waive their fee from the current academic session. The IITs' highest decision-making body announced this after the 49th meeting of the Council in Mumbai yesterday. Any student who gets admission into any of the 15 IITs under the physically challenged category from this academic year onwards will get free education through all semesters. A fee waiver for students from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes category has been in place in the IITs but a demand for a similar waiver for physically handicapped quota students was pending. HRD Minister Smriti Irani is learnt to have personally pushed the move which will boost technical education prospects for the special category students. "The idea behind the proposal was to make access and entry to the IITs easier for the students who get admission to the IITs in the physically challenged category. Since such waivers exist for SCs and STs, a window of opportunity was already there. We have just seized the opportunity," said a high ranking HRD Ministry official. At present, the physically handicapped quota students who get admitted to the IITs pay a fee of Rs 90,000 a year on the lines of the general category students. The development, on which the IITs will soon issue an official circular, will improve the number of physically challenged students entering IITs. Sources in the Ministry say their numbers at present are low as compared to the -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
