Shelters for People !

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: In yet another initiative in solving the problems of the people, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has come up with an idea of rest shelters for labourers and poor visitors to the city. GHMC is chalking out modalities in this regard. Large number of people residing on footpaths, either temporarily or regularly, forced the authorities to think in this direction.

The idea of rest shelters is not new though and already there are few shelters built in recent past for the needful at some places in the city, but keeping in view the large number of sufferers GHMC is expanding the plan. The shelters will be helpful to the laborers, patient attendants who come from different parts of the state and stay on footpaths in front of the hospitals and for other poor people. On the other hand daily wage laborers also have to stand under the sky suffering in rain, scorching sun or in any weather condition. Almost 50 plus locations were identified in city where shelters are needed. The shelters will have basic facilities like drinking water, a toilet and a registration counter in case of the labourers and will be of 200 to 400 people capacity.

GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar said that the shelters will be constructed near selected big hospitals where large number of people come for treatment and the attendants generally live on footpaths until the treatment of their relatives is over. Municipal body is of the idea to rope in several NGOs in this work to serve the purpose of this task.
He said that in a survey conducted by GHMC through some NGOs it was revealed that around 10,000 people sleep on the roads most of them are the attendants of patients in different hospitals. He said, “We have located 50 more such locations where shelters are needed.” He added that Facilitating Centre (Shelters) will be set up at identified locations to help the labourers. State minister for labor and employment Nayini Narasimha Reddy also vowed to support this scheme and asked the concerned officials to come up with blue print.

Break FAST !

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Leading educationists have asked both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments to resolve the row over fee reimbursements to students amicably. Experts believe that both the governments must carve out a solution that is student- friendly and should act in a manner that does not affect education in both the States. The comments made by High Court on the decision of State government to ask for parent’s date of birth brought out up mixed responses from local educationists and students.

Student activists think that conditions set for the Telangana State government scheme Financial Assistance for the Students of Telangana (FAST) were dividing the student community and citizens of the same nation. Social scientist and educationist Prof Inukonda Tirumali said that the fee reimbursement issue was earlier a matter of convenience and now it had become a matter of law. He said, “When it’s a question of law, the government cannot differentiate amongst students on the basis of locality.” Advising the government to resolve the issue in a friendly manner, he said that around 40 per cent of students in Telangana belonged to Andhra Pradesh. 

He however said that it was practically difficult to pay the fees of all students and wished the TS government had accepted the AP government’s offer to pay the fees of 40 per cent of students. The Telangana government had decided that 1956 would be seen as a cut-off year for parents of students who want to seek benefits of FAST scheme which was challenged in High Court by the two former ministers of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. High court has asked the TS government to file its reply in court and come clear on the issue within six weeks.

Educationist Prof Haragopal said that the controversy over the fee reimbursement and scholarships had nothing to do with students but had to be dealt with at the chief minister-level. He said that it was a complex issue and needed to be dealt in a much more critically. He said, “Though our citizenship is of an Indian, identity is not and the very bifurcation of the State was done for that purpose.”

Expansion Moves of MIM

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : With the ongoing tiff among political parties of the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena-BJP combine over seat sharing showing no signs of settling down, the Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is desperately trying to carve out political space for itself in Maharashtra. The MIM leadership is in its final leg of its two-month long campaign in Maharashtra where Assembly elections are scheduled to be held from October 15.

The party may field 15 to 20 candidates in the present assembly elections

Sources in MIM said that party was exploring possibilities in troubled political atmosphere prevailing in the State. Also said that remaining list of candidates would be finalized in a day or two. MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has been focusing on Maharashtra for the last two years and the political campaign has been speeded up during last few months. Party legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi completed his 10-day tour to Mumbai on Sunday covering several constituencies and conducting public meetings. The party is focusing on the areas and districts with higher Muslim population.

MIM is likely to field its candidates from Bhiwandi, Jogeshwari of Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Parbhani, Beed, Latur and Sholapur. The party may field 15 to 20 candidates in the present assembly elections. MIM already has its presence in Maharashtra municipalities, where it won 15 councilor seats in different municipal areas. The party would hold its public meetings in Sholapur, Nanded and Aurangabad during the next three days. Sources said that party was keen to contest from constituencies in Aurangabad which is home town of Asaduddin Owaisi’s ancestors. On the other hand, religious leaders from Maharashtra descended in Hyderabad to meet party president to finalise the list of potential candidates.

Plight of Private Schools

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: Parents who think that educational standards in private schools are higher than the government run schools may have to change their minds now, as the preliminary report of a State government survey tells rather a different story.Educational standards in private schools of the State are not so good and most of the schools do not follow the norms of the State government. The survey being done by the school education department reveals shocking details of the darker side of ‘private education’ in the state.

A survey says many goverment schools maintain good educational standards

It was revealed that several private schools do not even implement the syllabus, except for Telugu, prescribed by the state government and teach their own syllabi. About 25 percent students studying in them cannot do mathematical tables and 40 per cent students cannot read properly. The survey was being facilitated by the principals of DIET colleges, officials of SCERT and others. An official in the school education department said upon anonymity that it was revealed in the survey that learning levels of students were not satisfactory and students of 10th class were seen sticking to memorizing.

The survey will continue up to September 22, 2014. Sources in the school education department said that despite the GO 17 which prohibits the use of Guide books for SSC students, several private schools were found practicing it. It was also observed that private institutions were not implementing the latest reforms which were part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation that necessitates the extracurricular and co-curricular activities in the campus. On the other hand, it was noticed that a large number of the schools were not implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Moreover some private private schools found holding quarterly examinations contrary to the directives of school education department that has decided to conduct exams from October 13.

Some schools were using their own syllabus for primary classes and skipping the directives of government for a long time. SCERT director S Jagannath Reddy said that it is a holistic survey being conducted with the instruction of state government. He informed that six teams of five members each are being involved in this survey. “The survey teams will collect the information on performance of teachers, students, learning levels of students, school infrastructure, implementation of government schemes like RTE, educational standards and other things”, he informed.
He said that presently the survey is only done in five districts including Hyderabad and will be done in across the state eventually. Jagannath Reddy said, “SCERT officials will submit the details of academic lapses, found during survey, to the state government after September 22.”

Ravaging Ruling

The Supreme Court’s latest ruling disallowing second phase of EAMCET counselling has come as a big blow not only to the managements of private engineering colleges, which were not allowed to participate in the first phase counselling, but also to the students who got admissions. While the colleges could not take students, the students who were already admitted would lose the opportunity of sliding and change of subjects.

The ruling has shocked the private engineering colleges which were denied participation in the first phase or convener quota counselling that was held in August as they were hoping to get some admissions at least in second phase. Supreme Court bench on Thursday rejected the petition filed by Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Council, arguing that when already many seats were left vacant in colleges, there was no need for second phase counselling. Telangana Government and Telangana State Council for Higher Education, which were against the second phase of counselling from the beginning, welcomed the decision and said that it was a student-friendly decision. 

This ruling has not only stopped the private colleges to take admissions of less qualified and non-qualified students, but also won’t leave a room for students to slide their options in the future. After completion of first phase of counselling, as many as one lakh seats in both the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been left vacant. Out of 2.34 lakh qualified candidates, only 1.16 lakh have been allotted seats. In first phase of counselling, around 168 engineering colleges in both the States got below 100 admissions and 11 colleges recorded zero admissions. Only a few colleges got admissions of 900 and above.

Previously, engineering colleges used to take the admissions of students who did not even qualify or those who qualified with least marks. All such students used to get fee reimbursement but now it is not possible. On the other hand, the number of students getting benefits of Financial Assistance for Students of Telangana (FAST) will also come down drastically. Only 52,839 students were allotted seats after counselling in all the engineering colleges of Telangana. An educationist P Madhusudan Reddy said that denial of second phase counselling has manifold implications and it would affect not just college managements but also the students.

“Students cannot exercise sliding options and they have to stick to the subjects they had chosen in the first phase. Eventually, they have to settle with that course or leave engineering itself,” he said. However, for the State government, it was a favorable decision as it lessens the burden of fee reimbursement scheme.

Deprived Scholarships

Hyderabad: Thousands of Model School students are deprived of scholarships as the names of their schools were not mapped (listed in) in the social welfare department website, even after one year of their establishment. Despite the representations from school principals and teachers, nothing has been done in this direction and the names of schools were not entered for scholarships. The pre matric and post matric scholarships are part of the central government scheme in which Centre releases 75 percent and State adds remaining 25 percent of the total aid given to students.

Model Schools of Nizamabad (15), Karimnagar (43), Rangareddy (7) and Mahbubnagar (7) were reportedly not mapped in the website that releases passwords and e-pass to the students. Model Schools Teachers Association president Dasarath Yadav said that students were waiting for their scholarships without knowing the fact that their schools were not even listed for the same. He said that district officials were informed about the problem and they directed us to contact regional joint directors. “The school representatives ran pillar to post for the names to be enrolled as several students left the schools and many others planning to leave.” He said that the commissioner of school education supervises the Model Schools and nothing has been done on their part to help the students to get their scholarships.

Karimnagar comes under 5th zone and remaining districts Nizamabad, Rangareddy and Mahbubnagar come under 6th zone. Among total the 176 functioning Model Schools, names and details of around 70 schools were not mapped in the website. Strength of each school is up to 320 in classes from 6th to 10th along with 160 students in 10+2 classes.
Dichpally Model School incharge Ganesh Kumar said that officials don’t even know that Model School students were entitled to get the benefits of this scheme. He said, “Because of their laxity thousands of students already lost their one year scholarship.” 

When students studying in Models Schools of other districts can get the scholarship how would some districts were excluded from the scheme, he questioned. The Model Schools, which were started functioning from the June 2013 in the state completed one year few months ago. Officials in the social welfare department which is now renamed as Scheduled Caste Development Department did not respond to the queries pertaining to scholarships.

Secluded and Excluded !

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Senior students of engineering colleges that have been ‘excluded’ from the process of counselling this year as a result of their being under fire from the State government and JNTUH for not having educational facilities and infrastructure in line with standards approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are now feeling guilty for being part of such tainted institutions.

Although nothing serious would befall the students technically, they all are hurt emotionally as the colleges in which they are studying are now considered “not good” by the people around them too. Students are embarrassed to be the part of such institutions and some are worried about their future after completion of their course. B V Chandrasekhar, studying in 3rd year in such a college, said that when the government stopped their college from participating in counseling most of the students got worried about their fate. He said, “Technically we can continue with our studies, but the other side of this decision hurts us more when we are seen as a student of ‘not good’ colleges.”

He said that it might haunt them in their future struggle for either higher studies or while pursuing other career goals. Many students said that they felt as if they were traces of apartheid in student community just by being part of de-listed colleges. Students are also worried about the continuous ‘negative’ coverage pertaining to the colleges in which they are studying. Mohammed Noman, another student of third year, in an engineering college located on the outskirts of city said that whenever someone pointed to his colleges as ‘excluded’, he felt embarrassed. He said, “For me the other two years will be of mental agony and embarrassment.” 

He said that there were several students working hard for their studies and struggling to build their knowledge, but the incident of exclusion of colleges from counseling had come as a shocker to them. JNTUH officials said that they would not talk on this issue as the matter involving colleges was sub judice but said that studies of 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students would not be disturbed. However, University authorities had earlier warned the managements of de-listed colleges of stern action if standards were not maintained.

On the other hand, college managements said that most of the colleges were de-listed or kept away from counseling without any valid reason. The chairman of an engineering college, who did not want to be identified, said that AICTE had granted permission after verifying the basic infrastructure and facilities in the beginning itself. He said, “Without the infrastructure, including building, faculty and laboratories, AICTE would not have granted the permission.”

Welcome Decision

 There is a mixed reaction to the decision of the Board of Intermediate Education to introduce a subject on Ethics and Human values for junior Intermediate students.Academicians and social scientists felt that the decision will surely help the students in understanding the human values and social dignity while getting educated in their choice of other subjects. BIE recently announced the introduction of this new subject from the academic year 2014-15 and made it compulsory for all the students to appear for an examination in it. The syllabus includes topics like character, equality, individual and society values, empathy, communal harmony, religious and cultural values of various religions, social concerns towards society, environment, nation and others.

Senior fellow at ICSSR and social scientist Prof S Tirumali said, “This decision to include ethics and human values in the syllabus will help in eradicating evils in the society.” The syllabus contains the minimum human values and basic etiquettes that are needed for a human being in a society especially in a pluralistic society like India. The syllabus includes the knowledge of Indian Constitution, national anthem, topics on national integrity and unity in diversity. Some educationists feel that though the decision was appreciable already lot of damage has taken place. They argue that extensive privatization of education especially at intermediate level in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh actually spoiled the minds of young children in past two decades.

Noted educationist Kancha Illaiah said that lack of ethics always leads to a materialistic mindset and if educated people are devoid of human values there is no guarantee of them serving for the nation in their lives. Books and other material for the subject were prepared by the board and printed by the Telugu Academy are available in the market. The subject comprises of three components, theoretical, group project and individual project.

The group project includes the visit to a village, to gymnasium, internet café, government hospital, an old age home, fair price shop, pension office, raitu bazar, food processing unit, industry and others thus exposing students to the entire society around them.
Board of Intermediate secretary Rama Shankar Naik said that the modalities for to impart ethics and human values will be finalized very soon. He said that the scheme to accommodate the activities of new subject will also be prepared and sent to the colleges across both the states.

No Takers..!

Not long ago, the combined Andhra Pradesh was widely hailed as an educational hub in the country with a string of private professional colleges offering a wide range of courses. However, post-bifurcation, both the States—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh—are caught in a paradox. A problem of plenty is staring at professional colleges which had mushroomed in the combined State. 

Last year, the number of zero admission colleges was 35. Only 103 out of 476 colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh get 100 per cent admissions.

At least nine out of 335 engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh recorded zero admissions and one among the 141 engineering colleges in Telangana recorded zero admissions during EAMCET 2014 counselling. Last year, the number of zero admission colleges was 35. Most of the engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh recorded low rate of admissions compared to Telangana, owing to which a large number of seats in more than a dozen colleges have been left un-filled. The turf war between Telangana and AP government over who should oversee the counselling and seat allotment had delayed the process, prompting several students to migrate to professional colleges in Bengaluru, Chennai and other cities. 

Moreover, the standards of professional colleges have been declining over years. Several engineering colleges are now facing the risk of closure following poor response from students. A combination of factors has led to the present glut. Indiscriminate sanction of colleges in private sector, poor infrastructure, faculty, laboratories and other facilities and falling standards in the new colleges are among the factors that contributed to the declining demand. Around 103 colleges collectively in both the States recorded 100 per cent admissions with 66 in Telangana and 32 in AP. Colleges with above 500 admissions in Telangana stand at 13 compared to only eight in Andhra Pradesh. 

Colleges with 600 to 700 admissions in Telangana are 10 compared to seven in Andhra Pradesh. At the same time, the number of colleges with 96 to 100 admissions in AP is 147 cumulatively and it stands at 21 in Telangana. Interestingly, only one college in both States recorded admissions above 900 seats. During previous year, counselling for around 643 colleges cumulatively recorded 900 and above admissions where as it was reduced to 475 this among which 149 belong to Telangana and 396 belong to Andhra Pradesh. 

When it comes to seats, around 73,059 seats were left vacant after the completion of convenor quota counselling in both the States. Around 2.34 lakh students qualified in Eamcet 2014, of which 1.14 lakh belong to Andhra Pradesh and 88,937 belong to Telangana region. A total of 1.22 lakh students attended the certificate verification process and 1.20 lakhs students exercised their options. Around 63,190 students in AP and 52,839 students were allotted seats.