Amid nationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) urged the Uttar Pradesh government to instruct all private universities to waive off fee for this semester.

“When the whole country is going through worse because of COVID-19, daily wage earners are on exodus on foot to reach their homes from Delhi. Students living in cities away from their hometowns are stuck and are insecure about their future, some students do not have money to live properly, all these private institutions care about is making money,” said Lokesh Chugh, national media in-charge, NSUI.

“We demand the Uttar Pradesh government to give instructions to all the private universities to waive off fees for this semester if the government is not a part of all this. The classes remained suspended for this whole semester so there should be no question of fees. The NSUI demands complete waiver of fees for this semester,” Chugh stated.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has infected more than 1,200 people.