subject: Gate Exam Associated Post Grad Fee Waiver Creates Chaos [print this page] GATE examination is the most difficult of examinations held to select the talented engineering graduates and help them through a career move. It provides them added benefits such as a stipend, fee waiver as well as an admission to prestigious colleges with a tough competition ahead. On attaining a high AIR, the students would be provided with multiple options with regard to their career choice and can opt for the best fit in the country. Lakhs of students take up this examination to make a hi-end career with a good job to follow on.
GATE examination guarantees a stipend of 8000/- to students who take it up after a heavy preparation and enrolling for a Master at an IIT/IISc. The scholarship seems to be muddled up for most candidates who have enrolled for a higher degree. The chaotic sate of the college in Aurangabad is a picture of failed promise on dedicated effort by GATE aspirants. The SC/ST candidates face difficulty with the fee payment at the college. Many of them have been charged with a high fee of about 25000/- when the fess should be around thousand rupees. The system is not clear and failure of clarity in the education sector pushes students to the brink. The ones who can afford the high fee have enrolled for the program-me. This damages the reason for higher scholarship among-st the SC/ST students; the low fee is their right due to lower economic background.
Apart from levying a higher fee to students, the worst part is the issue has come to notice after quite some time. There has been a second scholarship for which the pupils can apply. The knowledge about the criteria for application is unclear. While some say, that a student who has yet to pass GATE exam can apply for this scholarship under the term social welfare, others state that a student can avail dual scholarships and therefore an additional fee waiver on the Master program-me. The current fee payment is to the full amount and it is quoted that these pupils are eligible for a refund after the criteria for the social welfare scholarship becomes transparent.
Such incidents create an air of uncertainty among students; also those who are willing to write GATE next year as well. In India, the number of engineers and medicos are innumerable, that one would expect the system to cater fairly atleast for the most sorted profession. At times, it would put a student in a fix because there could be many such incidents unreported. As more and more pupils wish to take up GATE, these issues cropping up among the universities can cause added trauma to a student looking forward to making a career. Timely changes for the forthcoming GATE examination could help the pupils and reinstate faith in the current educational system. With GATE becoming supreme among engineers and its result sort after in PSUs, the demand is high for talented individuals awaiting a good pay package for a long standing career in years.
