Students become furious after charging fees for studying in TU library

Kathmandu: The new decision of Tribbhuvan University Library to take fees from students for studying in the library has made students furious. Students said that it was impractical for charging fees for studying in the library.

The library had decided to charge fees to the students if they wanted to study in the library, starting from 18th August (Bhadra 1). According to the criteria, a student has to pay Rs. 700 for six months and Rs. 1100 for one year including Rs.100 for a library card in both membership schemes. 

One of the students, Ram Hari Lamichhane said that the charges for studying in the library were expensive. He said that the library was only operating during library hours but should be operated 24 hours to make it more student-friendly.

Khagendra Rijal, another student, complained that the library was even demanding charges from students studying at TU. He said that it would be an injustice for economically deprived students. 

Rijal said that most of the students at TU were from out of the valley and were staying in rented rooms. He said it would be difficult to manage the fees for the economically deprived students from Jumla, Mugu, Kalikot, etc. 

He said that although TU decided to charge a fee to mitigate the conflicts between students, it must correct the decision for economically challenged students. 

All Nepal National Independent Student Union (ANNISU) Chairman Shyamraj Ojha said that Lok Sewa and Japanese Language studying had been occupying the library space and to manage such a situation library decided to take fees. 

Library Head Sagarraj Subedi said that the decision was also made for monitoring the records of the students studying in the library. He said that the membership card was implemented as it was chaotic in the absence of a library card and difficult to even identify the students.