Education or Injustice?

In the classrooms of India’s top institutes like IIT Kanpur students sit side by side, attend the same lectures, and chase the same dreams. But look a little closer, and a stark financial divide reveals itself not based on merit, but on caste.

A general category student may end up paying ₹8–9 lakh for the full course, while a Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) student might pay nothing at all.

This isn’t a theory it’s real. Fee slips from IITs have surfaced online, showing the sharp contrast in tuition.

The Struggle Beyond the Scores

For general category students, the fight doesn’t end at cracking JEE Advanced. The next battle begins running from bank to bank, applying for education loans, facing guarantor demands, interest rates, and long-term debt.

Meanwhile, many of their classmates admitted through reserved quotas walk in debt-free.

Is this fairness? Or has our system swung too far in trying to fix historical wrongs?

Why This System Exists

Caste-based reservation and fee waivers were designed to uplift communities historically denied education, rights, and opportunity. For many marginalized families, this is their first generation attending college. The support is meant to level the playing field not skew it.

And yes, this policy has helped countless SC/ST students break cycles of poverty.

But now, many ask Is it time to evolve the system?

Time for a New Conversation?

What about economically weak students from general or OBC backgrounds?

Should economic status be given equal weight as caste in fee waivers?

Can we build a model that’s fairer to all deserving students, regardless of birth?

This isn't about tearing down reservation it’s about asking how can we make opportunity truly equal?

Because when two students walk into the same exam hall, with the same ambition but only one walks out burdened by debt we must stop and ask

Is this education or a quiet injustice?