Student Unions close to three major political parties have formed a joint monitoring team to curb exorbitant fees charged by medical colleges and initiate action against the colleges.

Nepali Congress (NC) aligned Nepali Students Union (NSU), CPN-UML aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) and CPN (Maoist Centre) aligned All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) have formed a 21-member monitoring team comprising seven 7 members each from the three student unions.

According to a joint statement issued on Wednesday, chairpersons of the unions CPN-UML’s Nabina Lama, ANNIRanjita Tamang, and ANNISU-R’s Nainsingh Mahar will take the leadership of the team.

The team will monitor the Universal Medical College ( Bhairahawa), Chitwan Medical College ( Bharatpur), Kist Medical College (Lalitpur), Gandaki Medical College ( Pokhara) and National Medical College ( Birgunj).

Likewise, the student unions have demanded the government regulate and monitor the private schools that are charging excessive fees.

In the statement, the student unions have demanded free basic and secondary education as guaranteed by the constitution from the coming academic session. They have warned of stern protests if the concerned authority turned a deaf ear to their demands.