Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday ruled out reversal of government's decision to lower fees of Indian Institutes of Management, saying it was in conformity with National Democratic Alliance's commitment to the principle that higher education should not be the monopoly of the rich.
"There is no relation between fee structure and quality," Joshi, who rubbished the charge that lowering fees would adversely affect quality of education imparted by IIMs, said.
The IIM controversy: Complete Coverage
"There is no question of rolling back the fees. Most of the IIM alumni who acquired their degrees five-six years back paid only Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a year. The enormous rise in the fees has taken place only in the past few years," he told a press conference.
To a question whether his ministry proposed to raise grants to the IIMs to ensure that quality of education was not compromised, Joshi said, "Fee is not related to quality. Had it been so the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, which charges only Rs 25 as montly fee, would not have produced doctors of eminence."
Moreover, he said these institutes received sufficient grants from the government and also had a huge corpus fund of around Rs 93 crore (Rs 930 million) to meet their expenses.
The 21st century would be the 'century of knowledge', Joshi said, and keeping this in mind the government had included 'right to education' among fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.
"All should get equal opportunity in getting education to ensure a balanced development of the country and the IIMs should not be an exception," he said.
The HRD minister said the government proposed to upgrade five National Institutes of Technology to Indian Institutes of Technology and increase the number of seats in the IIMs.
On the controversy over routing of donations by IIT alumni to their alma mater through India Education Fund, he said it was done following complaints that the donations were being misused.
Asked why a backward state like Bihar was not given a single IIT, IIM or a central university, the minister said the Union Cabinet had long back decided against opening any fresh central universities and for getting an IIT or IIM the state government would have to approach the Planning Commission with a comprehensive project report and only then can the Centre consider it.