New Delhi, Apr 17 (IANS): The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in a letter to all the colleges and institutes providing courses on engineering, management, architecture and pharmacy has instructed them not to compel students to pay fees during the lockdown.

The AICTE has issued a letter to these colleges on the instruction of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The letter stated that students can't be forced to deposit fees during the lockdown. It also contains instructions to pay the salaries of teachers and not to sack them.

A senior official of the Ministry of Human Resource Development said. "Instructions have been given to take this step keeping in mind the interests of students and teachers during the lockdown".

AICTE Secretary Prof. Rajiv Kumar has issued the suggested guidelines. All colleges and educational institutions have been directed to provide this information on their website and notice board.

Students, teachers and educational institutions have also been urged not to believe in any kind of fake news on social media, and trust the information available on the website of AICTE, UGC and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Also, the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme will also continue as usual.

Students who have not been able to do internship due to the lockdown can complete it online from home.

At the same time, the UGC committee is preparing the report on online examination and semester examination. Based on the report, the AICTE will release a new academic calendar for 2020 and a new guidelines for the annual examination.