Eamcet Widening Gap

Mohammed Younus / hyderabad : Telangana State Higher Education Council (TSCHE) on Wednesday staked claim on conducting Eamcet along with other CETs in the State and asserted that it was well within its right to conduct Eamcet examination. The final dates of Eamcet and other CETs would be decided at a meeting scheduled for next week. TSCHE chairman T Papi Reddy said on Wednesday that they would finalise dates and other things in a week’s time. 

A meeting with vice-chancellors of all the universities and executive committee of the council has been scheduled for January 3. Along with dates the conveners of the CETs would also be decided during the meeting

He said, “A meeting with vice-chancellors of all the universities and executive committee of the council has been scheduled for January 3. Along with dates the conveners of the CETs would also be decided during the meeting.” He said that as per the Section 75 of the AP Reorganisation Act, institutions located in the Telangana have a right to take their own decisions and if needed can offer help to the mother State. Reddy said that in the past universities of Telangana had conducted several CETs and this time too it would not be a difficulty to conduct some more tests. 

Conventionally, ICET is conducted by Kakatiya University, PGECET by Osmania University, and Eamcet by JNTUH. He flayed the statements of AP HRD Minister Ganta Srinivas in which he termed the TSCHE an invalid entity. Reddy said that a legitimate Telangana government has created the council with constitutional rights. On the other hand, it appears that after Intermediate examinations, the conduct of various common entrance tests especially Eamcet is widening the gap between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments and leading to create latest rifts.

This is evident from the series of events that had happened over a week now and latest is the notice of vacation given to the Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Council (APSCHE) by the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University from its building located at Masab Tank. The university authorities have also put the To-Let board locking up the whole building area which was under use of AP higher education council. This has come as a shock to APSCHE which had recently released the dates for various CETs to be conducted by different universities.

The dates were announced even as the Telangana State Higher Education Council (TSCHE) was trying to arrive at a date. TSCHE officials, however, denied having any role in the issuance of notice to the APSCHE for vacating the building. Meanwhile, AP Human Resources Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said they would move the Centre on the EAMCET issue if Telangana government fails to abide by Governor ESL Narasimhan’s advice to conduct the test individually one after the other. 

Addressing the media, the AP minister expressed concern over the Telangana government violating AP Reorganisation Act. He took exception to the Telangana government, which remained adamant on FAST, Inter and nativity issues and dishonoring them. “We might move either the court or approach the Centre if necessary,” he maintained. He remarked that the Telangana State Higher Education Council is not recognised and has no sanctity to conduct any such tests, he said. He also said the AP government was ready to conduct the EAMCET for 2015 and offer TS government to conduct the same in 2016 as per the advice of the Governor.

Ganta also found fault with Telangana Education Minister G Jagadish Reddy for threatening APSCHE Chairman Venugopal Reddy, who was seeking protection to his life, he lamented. He further alleged that Jagadish Reddy used filthy words and made offensive remarks besides creating a hue and cry in Venugopal Reddy’s chambers. “We tried in vain a number of times to contact Telangana Education department. Despite repeated efforts the TS government ignored them and thus the AP government came up with EAMCET date,” he maintained.

Crucial Meeting Te Decide On CETs

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: Telangana Higher Education Council has called a meeting next week to decide the modalities for conducting the common entrance tests for the state on its own, official sources said on Friday. 

The meeting was scheduled to be held early this month, but got postponed for due to continuous holidays. As the dates of notification for the conduct of various CETs nearing, the pressure over the state government especially on the State Higher Education Council is building up. The meeting would discuss the conduct of ICET, ECET, PGECET, EdCET, EAMCET and Law CET and may possibly take a decision to conduct these tests separately for the state of Telangana. According to TSCHE chairman T Papi Reddy, next week all the concerned officials including secretary of higher education along with education minister would sit to discuss the issue with council members.

About Eamcet, he said that the stance of Telangana government was clear and is in accordance with the Reorganization Act. “The section 75 of the Reorganization Act clearly says that successor state of Telangana has all rights to conduct the examination on its own and our stand is the same,” he added. He said that though the AP government was continuously making statements on conducting the Eamcet commonly for both the states, nothing had happened in this regard. He said that the Telangana government has decided to conduct all the examinations under its jurisdiction without causing difficulty to the students.

In Search Of Better Talent- TSPSC To Adopt UPSC Pattern

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s dream of establishing Bangaru Telangana with a strong administrative set-up is likely to encourage Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) to adopt the Union Public Service Commission’s strong recruitment policy.

"Controversial part of the UPSC examination pattern such as the CSAT and other elements will not be adopted in the recruitment process. An advisory committee will also be formed to decide on the modalities of the commission in adopting new methods of function including examination pattern reforms"

Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) officials hinted at adopting the examination pattern similar to UPSC for selecting the best candidates in government posts. Though the basic frame work of the examination pattern is similar, a major difference is the presence of negative marking in UPSC examinations. The recently appointed chairman and other members, however, are yet to finalise the modalities. The examinations conducted by state public service commission differ according to the post and category of posts. For Group I, the pattern of examination is similar to that of UPSC. All the examinations for Group I posts are conducted in three stages which include Preliminary, Mains and Interview.

However, there would not be negative marking and aptitude test in any of the stages. For Group II and Group IV category, examinations are conducted in two stages, which include Written Test and document verification or interview. TSPSC chairman Ghanta Chakrapani said that the basic agenda before the commission was to recruit the best candidates. He said, “We will adopt the best practices to suit our needs and also benefit us in making the selection process more transparent.”

He said that controversial part of the UPSC examination pattern such as CSAT and others would not be adopted in the recruitment process. “We would like to recruit highly competent candidates through TSPSC as they have to serve the state for 30 years, he said and added that no time frame has been finalised for bringing in these reforms. TSPSC officials have also informed that an advisory committee would be formed to decide on the modalities of commission in adopting new methods of function including examination pattern reforms.

Present Pattern of State Examinations
Group I
Preliminary Examination(Objective Type)- 150 Marks
Mains Examination (Conventional type)Interview/Oral Test - 750 Marks

Group II
Written Test (Objective type)- 450 Marks
Interview/ Document Verification

Group IV
Written Examination (Objective type)- 150 Marks
Document Verification

New Vice Chancellors For Universities

Mohammed Younus / Hyderabad : All universities in Telangana would soon get a permanent vice-chancellor if the State government has its way. Most probably, the task of appointing vice chancellors would be completed by mid-January next year. According to the government sources, necessary arrangements for the formation of search committees for selecting the permanent vice chancellors have been completed.

Universities require a search committee that comprises of a state government nominee, university nominee and UGC nominee. Government sources reveal that since UGC has recently completed the nomination of candidates, the way has been cleared for the formation of search committees. Out of the nine state run universities, only two are having permanent vice chancellors. Meanwhile, staff of the universities across the State continues to cry foul over the malfunctioning of varsities due to lack of vice chancellors for a long time.

As per the standard procedure, nomination is done at the first stage and then search committees are formed. Later, a notification is released by the universities. The search committees then scrutinise the applications and suggest three names to the State government. The search committee of each university suggests three names that are sent to the Governor for final approval. Telangana State Federation of University Teacher’s Associations (TSFUTA) chairman B Satyanaryana said the State Education Minister, G Jagadish Reddy, assured that search committees for each university would be formed very soon.

He also assured that the process of appointing VCs would be completed by mid-January next year. The minister also assured to increase the grants for universities which are in financial crises and facing troubles in raising salaries for the staff.

Standard Procedure of Appointment
•Nomination of candidates from UGC, State government and universities
•Formation of Search Committees for each university
•Release of notification by all the universities
•Assessment of candidates applied for the post
•Search committees suggest three names to the government
•State government sends the list of candidates to the Governor for approval

Universities without VCs
Osmania University – Hyderabad
Kakatiya University -Warangal
JNTU- Hyderabad
Dr B R A O U- Hyderabad
Palamur University-Mahabubnagar
Telangana University-Nizamabad
Prof Jayashankar Agricultural University
Universities having VC
Mahatma Gandhi University
-Nalgonda
Satavahana University-Karimnagar

B Ed Duration To Be Increased

Mohammed Younus / Hyderabad : Students aspiring to select teaching as their career would now have to spend an extra year mastering the advanced techniques of this unique profession as the duration of the Bachelor of Education (B Ed) course is all set to be raised by one year from the 2015-16 academic year. National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is all set to make some sweeping changes by increasing the duration of BEd from one year to two years, apart from initiating some major changes to the curriculum. 

The proposals are aimed at improving the quality of teacher education. As part of the proposed reforms in the entire higher education system in the country, the central government has already proposed several changes in teacher education. The eligibility to apply for B Ed would remain the same wherein a candidate needs to complete a three-year undergraduate course. With this, one has to study for five years to become a teacher (3 years of graduation and 2 years of B Ed). Experts feel that a change in the duration of the course and curriculum would give professional edge to aspirants, similar to other professional courses like BE (four years), MBBS (five-and-a-half years) and CA (five- years).

This change also comes with some strict norms wherein students would have to complete BEd within three years from the date of admission and also have an attendance of 80%. The proposal was put forth earlier during a meeting of vice-chancellors conducted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). It was also communicated to the universities that a framework to formulate the syllabus would be sent to them very soon. The reforms would include strict norms for colleges providing teacher education studies. Only those colleges having required infrastructure and facilities would be permitted to increase the intake of students.

In the first phase, these changes would be adopted by a few universities from the next academic year and later other varsities would implement it from 2016-17. The framework of syllabus would be decided after convening a meeting with eminent educationists to discuss the current curriculum and possibilities of bringing changes on a par with international standards.

TSPSC To Have a Completely New Orientation

The Telangana Public Service Commission will have a new orientation, with reference to Telangana and to the decades long movement for separate state. It is also aiming at hassle free recruitment procedure unlike in the past. 

The new approach would include changes in recruitment procedure, examination pattern and more importantly in the syllabus. These changes are contemplated to make the commission compatible to face the needs of Telangana state. The first notification by the newly constituted body would be released by the January end next year.

"The new syllabus will have all the elements pertaining to Telangana because once a person is recruited through TSPSC he would remain in government services for 30 years in Telangana,
The newly appointed members of Telangana State Public Service Commission, including chairman Ghanta Chakrapani, with Governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan in the city on Saturday."

The syllabus would be changed for all the categories including Group 1, 2, 3 and 4 accordingly after discussing it with experts’ panel. The panel of educationists and experts would suggest the needed changes.
TSPSC chairman Ghanta Chakrapani said, “We cannot continue with the present syllabus since it did not have any relation with Telangana’s culture and history and the recruited have to work in Telangana and need to know them.”

The new syllabus will have all the elements pertaining to Telangana because once a person is recruited through TSPSC he would remain in government services for 30 years in Telangana, he added.

However he hoped that the first notification of recruitment would be released by the end of January next year. The other changes would be in the procedure of selection and examination pattern.An advisory committee would be formed with the permission of government to prepare a framework to look after the papers and their secrecy. “We would definitely see that confidentiality is maintained,” he said.

Policy decisions regarding the age limit, number of attempts and other matters would be taken by the state government. He said that the commission would work as a transparent recruiting agency for the government.

Chairman however warned, “We don’t want any private party to exploit the situation by announcing syllabus changes but the commission itself would announce it officially.” Member of the commission C Vithal said that if needed they would form an academic cell as per the provisions of Re Organization Act in the future. He said that the functioning of TSPSC would not be same like erstwhile APPSC’s.

He said, “Unlike APPSC the Telangana commission would release the notification in a phased manner and section wise to facilitate the students to choose the exams properly.”

Hyderabad Pays Tribute to the Martyrs of Peshawar

Schools across Telangana paid tributes to the children killed in the terrorist attack in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call, students in government-run and private schools in both the Telugu-speaking States observed two-minute silence in memory of the children killed at an army-run school. On Wednesday, students of All Saint’s High School in Gunfoudry and Safdaria Government School in Mehdipatnam prayed for the massacred students and observed two-minute silence, while other schools like Amma Concept School and Lotus Lap School took rallies condemning the attack. 

Police commissioner M Mahender Reddy said the force would draw up guidelines for security of city schools in the wake of the massacre in Peshawar

Students raised slogans against the barbaric act of the terrorists. Hundreds of children from other schools too organised peace programmes against the attack. They said that there was a need for collective effort to save children and to put an end to terrorism. Sharing their sorrow, employees in some government offices also observed silence and prayed for the victims. Offering condolences to the families of victims, student groups ABVP, SFI, PDSU, SIO and NSUI condemned the killing of innocent school students. They said that the attack was like attacking the whole humanity and wanted zero tolerance against such armed groups in any country.

The attack left over 148 dead, including 139 school children, and several badly injured. The barbaric act of terrorists has left the Indian subcontinent completely shocked. Meanwhile, police commissioner M Mahender Reddy said it had plans to draw up guidelines on the safety and security of city school students in the wake of the massacre in Peshawar. “We will come up with certain protocols through the education department and definitely look at the safety and security of students,” he said. When told that parents and managements of some schools are keen to see police imparting security tips to children as a precautionary measure, he said, “...Definitely we will think about it.”

On reported terror alert for Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit next month, Reddy said, “It is a general alert and not a specific alert issued by the central security agencies to Hyderabad.” “We are taking all possible precautionary measures. We are confident that we would be able to ensure the safety and security of citizens,” he added.