The Cost of Learning: Protests Mount Across Universities as Fee Hikes Deepen Crisis of Accessibility
Aditya Sharma and Unzila Sheikh | 15 September 2025 | The Wire
“From AMU to Jamia, No NEP, No Fee Hike!” These slogans echoed in the halls of Jamia Millia Islamia on the eve of August 13 as students rallied in support of the protests at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). All India Students’ Association (AISA), along with several student organisations and Jamia students, marched in solidarity, starting from the central canteen and to gate number 7 of the campus. At the heart of the protests is a steep increase in annual fees at AMU, which students say will lock out large sections of the economically weaker and marginalised communities from higher education.
Although after a 10-day-long agitation, AMU announced a series of rollbacks and concessions, following a meeting on August 18, the agitation escalated the next day, August 19, as students marched to the district collectorate and burnt an effigy of vice-chancellor Naima Khatoon…