DHARWAD: President of Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha Patil Puttappa has alleged that engineering and medical education have gone beyond the reach of students belonging to poor and middle-class families owing to the wrong policies of the Union and State governments.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Puttappa felt that even the Supreme Court had failed to safeguard the interests of the students.

Because of the exorbitant fees, now a student had to cough up Rs. 15 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh to complete his medical education. The State Government should immediately intervene and announce subsidy in fees for poor students, he said.

Mr. Puttappa appealed to the State Government to provide educational loans at the rate of 4 per cent interest to students who cannot afford to pay the high fees. Financial institutions should come forward in this regard, he said.

He welcomed the statement by Higher Education Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy about taking over private educational institutions if they failed to adhere to the fee structure approved by the Government. However, he expressed doubts about the Minister taking action in this regard.

Mr. Puttappa said students from other States were being given preference over students from the State. He appealed to the Government and the private educational institutions to reserve only 15 per cent of the seats to students from other States and give the rest to the Karnataka students.

Mr. Puttappa urged the State Government to chalk out a new policy to protect the interests of the poor and meritorious students.

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