Well, if we say we are normalizing paying interns all across, do you think most industries and companies will accept that?
Take for example NYSC program. The agreement form made it clear that the institution (PPA) will provide housing and some (little) stipends for any serving Corp member posted to their facility. Factually, we know corpers are learned people from diverse institutions and so, what they're doing is a service to the nation through the institution they're posted to. We can agree there's no mutual benefits here. The Corp member is solely the person putting in all the work, with their skill and knowledge from their field of study while the institution contributes nothing in return for their efforts. In this case, we can agree it's very fair for the government to demand that Corp members should be taken care off, financially and maybe housing to compensate them abit for their efforts.
Coming back to internship. What do you want to give the company back for accepting you to LEARN under their guidance and facility? I agree some employers demand way more than expected from their interns but we shouldn't generalize every institution to do like that. If I have an institution and all I do for my I.T students is to teach them in adequate proportion what they need to know, then the school or government demands that I pay them for teaching them in my facility, guess what's gonna happen next 😂