Thrissur: Tension broke out at the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) headquarters in Mannuthy on Tuesday after SFI activists took out a protest march against the massive fee hike in agricultural colleges. Police used water cannons to disperse the agitators. Over 500 students have been protesting in front of the university headquarters since Tuesday noon.

The SFI launched the protest after a student at the Vellayani Government College of Agriculture reportedly discontinued his studies due to the unaffordable tuition fee.

Inaugurating the protest, SFI State Secretary PS Sanjeev said the decision to increase fees in an institution directly under the state government was unjustifiable and went against the principles and policies of a Left government. He alleged that the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the university “fled the scene” when students demanded a discussion on the hike.

The SFI state president declared that the students would continue their protest at the university until the fee hike is rolled back.

Student quits studies
The issue gained attention on Monday after Arjun, the student who dropped out, posted an emotional video on social media.

Arjun of Puthuppadi, Thamarassery, had enrolled in the BSc Agriculture course at Vellayani after seeing the official notification that listed the semester fee as ₹15,000. However, upon learning that the revised fee was a steep ₹50,000, he reportedly got a transfer certificate and discontinued his studies.

35 pc hike in fee
In September, KAU suddenly hiked the fees for its four-year degree programmes by up to 35 per cent for the 2025–26 academic year without prior notice. As per the revised structure:

PhD semester fee: ₹49,990 (old ₹18,780)

PG semester fee: ₹49,500 (₹17,845) 

Degree semester fee: ₹48,000 (₹12,000) 

The SFI has demanded that the order increasing the fees be withdrawn immediately, alleging that such a drastic hike in a publicly funded agricultural education system is anti-student and unacceptable.