West Bengal announces free online application in colleges and universities

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Thursday announced that students will not be charged for applying to state-run colleges and universities for admission in undergraduate courses. As per an official order, no money can be charged from students for providing application forms or prospectus for admission.

"Let me assert in unambiguous terms, colleges should not take a single rupee under any head from the candidates during admission," Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said. "The colleges can't even charge money for buying prospectus or in any other category. Those universities, which directly offer undergraduate courses, cannot similarly charge anything from the candidates," he added.

Chatterjee said students should not be put under any economic stress as they are already faced with the hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the minister's statement, the Higher Education Department issued a notification regarding this. "No charges shall be taken from the students for scanning/uploading of documents for online admission in UG level courses, for providing the application form/prospectus of admission in UG level courses," it said.

Admission to the colleges and varsities in the state is being conducted online this year in the wake of the COVID- 19 pandemic. Most of the institutes began the process on August 10.

West Bengal became the second state to announce free online admission in state government aided colleges and universities. On August 4. the education minister of Tripura, Ram Lal Nath announced free online admission in 22 government colleges, owing to the Covid-19 situation.

(With inputs from PTI)

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