Ahmedabad: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will protest against an over 80 percent fee hike in management quota seats at Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) run government medical colleges. The prominent student organization plans to stage a protest at GMERS Medical College in Sola on July 12 at 10 am.

Gujarat government spokesperson Rushikesh Patel stated on Wednesday that the government will decide on the demand to rollback the increased fees at GMERS-run medical colleges within a week.

GMERS recently implemented an increase in annual fees for undergraduate medical courses across all 13 colleges in the state. The hike affects state and all-India quota seats, which have risen by 66% from Rs 3.3 lakh to Rs 5.5 lakh per annum. For management quota seats, fees have surged by 87%, climbing from Rs 9.075 lakh to Rs 17 lakh. Additionally, fees for NRI quota seats have increased by 13%, from $22,000 to $25,000 per annum.

Medical education experts consider this fee hike to be the steepest ever announced by GMERS. The 13 GMERS medical colleges collectively offer 2,100 medical seats in Gujarat, comprising 1,500 state quota seats, 210 management quota seats, 315 NRI quota seats, and 75 all India quota seats. Any unoccupied NRI quota seats are converted into management quota seats as per regulations. DeshGujarat