Inspection Effect

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : With the Telangana government deciding to do away with tuition fee reimbursement and replacing it with Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana (FAST), admissions to private engineering colleges are likely to see a sharp decline this year. Adding to their woes is the nativity rule, which considers 1956 as the cut off year for availing FAST.

Stringent rules for FAST, inspections to spell doom for several colleges having poor infrastructure

Educationists said that the latest round of re-inspection of engineering colleges by Jawahar Lal Nehru Technological University task force officials in the State earlier this week would surely spell doom for many colleges, as most of them were found ‘not maintaining’ the required standards. They said that around 100 engineering colleges may have to shut down if inspections are conducted in a strict manner, as directed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. The CM ordered these inspections after receiving concrete information that most of the engineering colleges did not fulfill the criteria of an ‘ideal engineering college’ as prescribed by the All-India Council for Technical Education.

At the same time, more than 120 of the 335 colleges in the State were on government radar for having poor infrastructure. The recently released Government Task Force report on the functioning of private engineering colleges has painted a grim picture of infrastructure in private engineering colleges across the state. Confirming these fears, Telangana Engineering Professional College Managements Association (TEPCMA) chairman N Goutham Rao said that 1956 as cut off would indeed have an adverse impact on admissions.

Reacting to the ongoing inspection of the engineering colleges, he said that inspection was already done in May 2014 and re-inspection was not necessary. He said that these days, parents and students themselves were inspecting the colleges before taking admissions and termed it as ‘social inspection’.

Last year, around 50 per cent seats in engineering colleges were left vacant due to the chaos surrounding the bifurcation of state. In 2012, around one lakh seats remained vacant, he said. TEPMCA member I Krishna Rao said that government has to give some time for colleges to update their infrastructure and to attain the standards prescribed by government. Telangana Government Junior College Lecturers Association president P Madhusudan Reddy said that several colleges may have to close down if inspection is done as per the rule book.

College Managements Cry Foul

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Engineering college managements demanded the Telangana government to release the pending fee reimbursement dues without linking it with the state-level task force report on the functioning of engineering colleges. Calling it an untimely report, the college managements expressed their discomfort over the timing of release of the report. The report was released when the EAMCET counseling for admissions into the engineering colleges of the state have been stalled due to the indecision on fee reimbursement and nativity in Telangana.

Telangana Engineering and Professional College Management Association (TEPCMA) chairman N Goutham Rao said on Thursday that the time selected to release the findings of task force was not right. He said that this may lead to students deter from taking admissions into engineering courses and would bring disrepute to the higher education. He said that the government should give time to the underperforming colleges and if still lapses are found, action should be taken against the erring colleges. He claimed that most of the colleges reached the stage of poor performance only because of the delay in payment of fee reimbursement dues.

The task force report revealed that only 10 per cent of colleges have a good track record of results and only a few have good infrastructure. The report also claimed that out of Rs 4,000 crore released by the government only Rs 1,500 crore was reaching the real students. The report said that several colleges were established only to take the benefits of fee reimbursement. Most of the colleges don’t even have proper faculty and infrastructure but they showed more number of students every year.

The task force appointed on August 11, 2012 inspected 685 engineering colleges across both the states between October 2012 and March 2013. Only 120 out of 700 colleges submitted their performance, infrastructure and other reports.

Regularization Row...

Mohammed Younus / Hyderabad : Controversy over the State government’s decision to regularise contract employees is drawing flak from student community following which government seems to be in a fix over the implementation of its popular pre-poll promise. As of now, the State government is firm on the decision and said that it had fulfilled the poll promise given to the people before elections. But the legal tangles may cause an obstacle in the implementation.

The controversy over the issue has been escalating with the growing protests by the student groups opposing the government’s decision. Student leaders expressed their apprehensions that if government regularises the contract employees it would hamper their chances of employment. Government sources said that it had only announced the decision which involved several modalities. Ultimately, all contract employees would not come under the ambit of the scheme, opined a senior official.

Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers’ Central Union president G Deviprasad Rao said that State government would not move ahead blindly with the scheme. He said that the performance, eligibility, qualification among other criteria would be examined before regularisation. “Out of around 35,000 contract employees working in various departments several of them would be cut short after verifying their appointment, qualification and other criteria,” he added. On the other hand it is a non-issue for several student unions as they allege that the latest anti-government protests were orchestrated and flamed by some political parties. 

Telangana Students Unions JAC convener D Balraju Yadav said that there were large number of contract employees in education, municipal administration and healthcare sectors. Defending government’s stand, Balraju said that it would not simply go ahead but all the needed qualifications would be assessed before the regularisation. “With this filtration only few thousand contract employees may be regularized. The other students need not worry as state government has already promised to create jobs for the educated,” he said. As per the data available with Telangana Employees Union leaders, there are around 1.5 lakh vacancies in government departments. 

The number of contract employees was somewhere around 32,000 to 35,000. Education, irrigation, municipal administration, health care and revenue department have the more number of contract employees. Moreover, as per Act 2 of 1994 and a directive of Supreme Court no government is allowed to regularize the contract employees. Regularization was done in corporations and semi government departments but not in government departments, said a senior official in the education department. The objective behind agitating university students was to abolish the regularisation of gazetted posts as it would amount to the contempt of court and damage the chances of highly educated unemployed youth.

Cut Off Kicks up storm

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : The Telangana government's decision to consider 1956 as a cut off year for nativity has evoked sharp criticism from educationists, political parties and student groups, with all of them calling it impractical and unscientific. Prominent educationists have opined that having such a distant cut off would not serve any purpose and that it would appear like the government was trying to run away from its responsibilities. 

Noted educationist and MLC Prof K Nageshwar said that the bench mark set by state government was not only unscientific but also impractical. He said that procuring certificates dating back to 58 years was not possible. He said, “State government’s cut off is four times more than what Mulki rules stipulate and it is highly impractical.” He said that this scheme was going against the right of individuals to stay anywhere across the country. 

Communist Party of India (CPI) Telangana state secretary K Narayana termed the cut off set by state government as ‘totally unscientific’. He said that there was no need to create such mayhem on the fee reimbursement issue and it should be done according to the existing rules. He wondered what would be the fate of people who were born after 1956. “It is not correct to choose 1956 as cut off,” he said. Telangana Engineering and Professional College Management Association (TEPCMA) chairman N Goutham Rao said that fixing a cut off year for fee reimbursement is the discretion of state government. He said that government has not released the GO pertaining to nativity with modalities yet.

He said, “It is premature to comment on this issue but one thing is clear that 1956 is for fee reimbursement and not for admission.” Nevertheless, he opined that students would have to ‘suffer’ because of this criterion. After the announcement of Telangana state cabinet to this effect, Andhra Pradesh HRD Minister Ganta Srinivas Rao criticized the move and advised Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao not to create constitutional crisis. He said that Telangana government’s decision was against the constitutional provisions. Announcing a separate scheme, Financial Assistance for the Students of Telangana (FAST), Telangana cabinet has decided to set 1956 as the criteria for determining the nativity of students.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad state president Jamalpur Niranjan said that at least now Telangana government should release the arrears of fee reimbursement to students who have passed out from various colleges. Raising objections on choosing 1956 as reference year, he said that this would force even local students of Telangana to have a tough time to prove their nativity. He said, “Now Telangana students have to procure the details of parents and grandparents which the government itself does not have.”

Students Federation of India (SFI) state secretary Shobhan Mood said that government should talk to experts, educationists and student groups on such issues and take decisions in the larger interests of the public. Earlier, TRS promised reimbursement to all students born in Telangana, but now it seems to be deviating from the promise by announcing 1956 as a cut off for nativity, he said

Congratulations

May my warm and hearty congratulations reach United States of America and the Zionist territory called 'Israel' for their achievements in Egypt last year and in Iraq this year thus accomplishing the task of killing several dozen innocent children, women and men in Gaza now.

I would also like to congratulate the so called 'Arab' states, formed and created to facilitate the great game plan of Zionists in the West Asia with their silent and significant support for the cause of an illegal state Israel.

Globally known for its great support to the 'Democracy' United State was unable to digest the victory of some people popular with their religious identity in Egypt and was busy to destabilize through back channels from the moment the Islamic party gained power in Egypt after toppling the dictator Hosni Mubarak.

After one complete year of 'struggle' the US and its regional ally Israel were successful in derailing the democratic journey in the country of Pyramids that was started after around 50 years there. After ousting the democratically elected government of Morsi the Egyptian Army slaughtered several hundred of their own country men under the guidance of US and Israel and the new 'king' was brought out of the rubble of democracy, known as Al SISI !

So the end result of the US-Zionist strategy in Egypt was to have a SISI the 'great'. After sending thousands of Democracy loving people behind bars and killing hundreds, the real 'Democracy' suitable to meet the standards (read double standards) of US the goal was accomplished.

During this course a local clerical group was also with these forces of hatred and that is the great
'God loving and Rightful follower'  group called 'Salafi'. I will also thank all the Salafis of Egypt, Arab Countries and also the saturated salafis of India who have supported their friends US and Zionists during the whole crisis.

After Egypt, the second target was Iraq where the great lovers of Democracy globally, Israel and US, started fanning turmoil in the Kurdish and Sunni dominated areas and after only one month of 'struggle' they were successful in popularizing ISIS across the world. It is apparent that several innocent people also strangled in the wrong propaganda of this organization. Ironically after blaming a particular religion, a sect and a community as a whole for two months ISIS announced to establish a 'Caliphet' ! What more do we need, wow we have a caliph now !

I once again thank all the above mentioned 'Salafis' for endorsing this Caliphet and the great Caliph. Interestingly the great Caliph never called for fight against Israeli air attacks on imprisoned Gaza people, rather it opposed. By the way its SISI in Egypt and ISIS in Iraq.

Meanwhile in Gaza the Zionist forces bombed Gaza making an excuse of rocket from Gaza and killed around 170 innocent people by now. The ridiculous 'war' is still going on with Israeli troops equipped with heavy weapons and gunship tanks entering the Gaza territory.

Last but not least I would like to congratulate the Indian Government for its unprecedented silence over this burning global issue. Interestingly the newly elected government wants India to play a key role in international politics and lead as a leader globally.

Rather the Indian government immediate after its inception signed some key agreements with an illegal state of Israel in defense and other important sectors. So the congratulation is over but it is not over; the so called humanity also needs a warm congratulation for showing the great interest in FIFA and ignoring the killings of innocent children, women and men in Gaza. Congratulations to all!Congratulations. Long live.

How forward is FAST

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Student unions and groups are questioning the wisdom of State government for taking 1956 as a yardstick to determine nativity even for granting scholarships and reimbursement to the State students by changing the name of scheme to ‘Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana’ (FAST). Though the modalities of this new scheme are not yet completed, students and student unions said that the application process for the proposed scheme would be cumbersome if the primary inputs are to be believed.

Students will not only have to submit their birth and caste certificates, but also nativity certificates of their parents

As per the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the government officials are busy in designing its modalities. The CM has asked for the name of the fee reimbursement scheme to be changed to ‘Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana’ (FAST). This scheme aims at providing financial assistance to post matric Telangana students. As per the inputs from the Chief Minister’s Office, nativity will be determined basing on 1956 as reference year.

With this, students would not only have to submit their birth and caste certificates, but also nativity certificates of their parents. This yardstick would be used to decide the parents’ status as well as student’s eligibility. The CM reportedly asked the officials to form a committee with revenue officials in each mandal to verify the facts. But students say that if this is the case, procuring certificates on their own and those of their parents will be a very huge task. Student unions and groups said that state government should prepare a plan to ensure that there would not be any additional burden on the students and the scheme runs smoothly. 

PDSU leader Gautham Prasad said that using 1956 as a reference year to determine nativity would create severe problems for students. He said, “State government itself doesn’t have the data beyond 1956. How can it ask students to procure such information?” He asked the government to work wisely and transparently for the benefit of students and revoke the proposed condition of 1956 for determining nativity. A student V Ashok Kumar, who recently qualified for the EAMCET examination, said that he appreciated setting up a separate scheme for Telangana students, but also wanted the criteria for applying to the scheme to be made easy.

He said that with the delay in counseling, several poor students were in despair and if new schemes also remain similar to those offered by the previous governments, a sense of apartheid would emerge within the student community. The amount of scholarship that would be granted, fee reimbursement structure and other details of the proposed scheme are yet to be decided and government must take a decision to this effect within a week or two.

Students up the Ante

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Educationists, student unions and parents of EAMCET qualified students are annoyed with the decision of Telangana government to delay the counselling for admission into engineering and medical courses. They condemned the government’s decision to delay counselling, as it may cause exodus of students from the State. Progressive Democratic Student Union state president J L Gowtham Prasad said that there was sufficient staff to conduct EAMCET counselling in the State. 

He said that the government was trying to detach itself from the fee reimbursement scheme. Because of the delay in decision over nativity, the whole process had been stopped, he revealed. Student Federation of India state president Shobhan Mood said that with this decision, students were contemplating to go to other states for their studies, where there was a strict academic schedule. “Such actions are driving students to the private and deemed universities, which will see them paying more for their studies,” he rued. Educationists urged the government not to postpone the counselling as it would waste the precious time of the students. 

Assistant professor S Kiran Kumar said that the qualified students of EAMCET were expecting the academic year to start early this time, but with the government’s announcement, they were under severe mental pressure. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) state president Jamalpur Niranjan alleged that State government wanted to get rid of the fee reimbursement scheme by showing irrelevant reasons for the proposed delay. He said, “If government is really committed to help the student community, it can easily conduct the counseling and give fee reimbursement to the poor and eligible student, but it is not sincere enough on this issue.”

He said that ABVP would organise a statewide agitation on Friday and observe educational institutions bandh on July 15. He alleged that state government had hatched a plan to escape fee reimbursement by delaying the counseling. Blaming both AP and Telangana governments, he accused both of being insincere in their promises. According to Supreme Court guidelines, the academic year in the professional colleges should be started from August 1. Earlier, it was reported that EAMCET counseling would start by July 5 or 7, but with no concrete stance on fee reimbursement, the counseling has been put on hold for a longer period.