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.

Love JiHAD

Here comes another joke from the saffron brigade 

End of an Era!

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : The demand for engineering course among students has come down drastically in the State as is evident from the poor response to certificate verification witnessed during the ongoing EAMCET engineering counselling. The percentage of students appearing for certificate verification in Andhra Pradesh too is very low, though slightly better than in Telangana. 

Only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates attended certificate verification so far

In fact, the decline in engineering admissions started last year itself and several colleges sought permission to wind up their operations. This year, the situation is grimmer as bifurcation is affecting the schemes meant for engineering students. There are about 1.74 lakh engineering seats under convener quota available in both the States; only 1.21 lakh students have so far attended the counselling. According to the EAMCET counselling committee data, around 2.34 lakh students qualified this year. While there are around 1.15 lakh seats under convener quota in Andhra Pradesh and 59,515 in Telangana, many of them look destined to be unoccupied.

In Telangana, only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates have attended the certificate verification so far. In Andhra Pradesh, only 65,000 students turned against 1.14 lakh eligible candidates. A total 87,859 students across AP and Telangana selected their options from August 17 till date. Educationists and experts attribute this decline in interest to steps taken against the engineering colleges to improve the quality of facilities and standards. They opine that the State government’s strict action against erring engineering colleges in Telangana might have resulted in a decrease in the number of students enrolling in the State.

Renowned educationist Kancha Illaiah said that this could not be the only reason, but pointed at the poor quality of education being imparted to them as a reason for most students to opt out of engineering. He said that now students were looking towards pharmacy for their career. In Telangana, there are 315 engineering colleges among which only 141 colleges were permitted to participate in counseling, while the remaining were de-listed. As many as one lakh seats were cut short as a result of stopping those colleges from counseling.

An EAMCET qualified student D Prakash Yadav, who attended the certificate verification and selected his option during the counseling, said that earlier engineering was more sought after as it provided good job opportunities and was a matter of pride. Meanwhile, college managements have blamed the State Government’s stance to delay the release of fee reimbursement as a reason for the steep fall in the number of students enrolling for the engineering course. They also cite lack of clarity on the recently announced FAST scheme for students as another reason for a decrease in the number of students opting for engineering.

A member of engineering college management’s consortium on condition of anonymity said that the State government had refused to reimburse the fee for engineering students citing different reasons and did not clarify on its new scheme. “This in fact has demoralised several students,” he said.

UPSC Aspirants Detract

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : A large number of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have decided to opt out of preliminary exam in view of the Centre’s decision to do away with English comprehension marks. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had recently issued a circular stating that marks secured in English comprehension in paper-2 of the preliminary examination would not be considered for rankings.

Protest Central decision to do away with English comprehension marks

The paper-2 of the preliminary examination consists of seven parts in which English comprehension carries 20 marks. Students from both States have been opposing the introduction of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and demanded the GoI to scrap it completely. Peeved at the Central government’s decision, many students said that they have opted out of the exam after the GoI increased the number of attempts by two times with a hope that there may be reforms from the NDA government before the notification is issued.

One such aspirant K Venkat Goud said, “Central government has given extra attempts for the Civil services exam and I will not appear this time because the examination pattern will surely help Hindi and English medium students.” Another student Rajendar Kumar said that all the segments of preliminary examination paper-2 are in English and Hindi and the last part, English comprehension, was only in English language, which would not be considered for the purpose of ranking. “Students from the South get a good score in English comprehension, but that itself is abolished now owing to pressure from lobbied in north India.

For candidates like us, it will be a waste of energies if we write the examination,” he said. With only two days left for the conduct of preliminary examination i.e. on August 24, some students however want to give it a try by appearing in the examination. On the other hand, experts imparting training for civil services aspirants have expressed their ire at the UPSC’s decision to continue with CSAT in 2014. It was introduced in 2011, by scrapping the optional papers. R C Reddy IAS Academy Director R C Reddy said that the non-English and non-Hindi background students would be put to irreparable loss due to the present pattern of exam for paper 2.

“Our students were able to score good in English comprehension because it was language comprehension and questions asked were only in English, but the remaining part of the CSAT is in Hindi and English which is favourable for students coming from Hindi language background.” Reddy said that non-mathematic background students were also at a disadvantage because of this pattern. He questioned the civil services authorities for including mathematical aptitude test instead of administrative aptitude in the exam pattern. “The pattern of examination itself is designed in such a way that it eliminates non-Hindi students, mostly south Indians,” he added.

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Political Satire !

Industry Clusters to Come up...

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: Education standards in engineering colleges across the State are likely to see a quantum leap with government proposing to link curriculum with the needs of the local industry thereby increasing the chances of employment and also employability.

The proposed industry cluster will be spread across the State and linked with the engineering colleges located in various districts of the State. Though the proposal has not been finalized, sources said that this would be implemented tentatively within a year or two. The industry clusters that are proposed to be set up in rural areas across the State would help provide employment and dissemination of career opportunities. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi government has been pitching for industrial clusters to attract industrialists. 
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao hinted that a special industry cluster apart from SEZs would be established and linked with engineering colleges. 

He said that well qualified engineering graduates would be employed at these industries. He further said that for every four or five engineering colleges, there would be a company attached to it and students passing out from these colleges could be accommodated in the company. He said that having a large number of engineering colleges alone would not serve the purpose of quality education, but having higher standards is the need of the hour. Industry cluster includes different sectors like electrical, mechanical, electronics, IT, civil and petrochemical streams. This would help them have well-qualified and industry-ready talent ready for absorption. The Chief Minister has been reiterating on the need to have standard colleges with quality standards.

Noted educationist Kancha Illaiah said that the whole higher education system needs to be revamped and if there is any proposal to enhance the standards of engineering colleges and establishing industry cluster, then it is a good decision that needs to welcomed by one and all. Students and educationists have welcomed this proposal and called for improving the quality of practical training in these colleges.
An engineering final year student from Mancherial town of Adilabad district M Sunil Kumar said that if these plans fructify, students need not settle for petty jobs. “The industry-college tie-up will surely offer us jobs that will pay better,” he said.

Unani Hospitals

Unani hospitals across the State are finding it difficult to serve patients due to irregular medicine supply, authoritarian apathy and fund crunch. Owing to unique in treatment methods, Unani medical system has been the only choice for thousands of people. The medicine being supplied by Government Indian Medicine Pharmacy (GIMP) is not regular and is inadequate.

On condition of anonymity, a doctor said that several medicines used to treat neurological health issues were not supplied by the pharmacy. He said, “The pharmacy does not supply the raw material, medicine and other ingredients citing high costs and lack of funds.” The Unani hospitals work under AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) department. Sources in the AYUSH said that getting ingredients was the biggest challenge being faced by the department. The ingredients include saffron, mishk, vij turkey, buch, singhada, jund e basta, mastagi roomi, ustu quddus. These are brought from Spain, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Italy among other countries.

 
In the absence of these ingredients, doctors are using alternatives to prepare the formulae. On the other hand, staff and fund crunch is deteriorating the condition of Unani hospitals in the State. Sources revealed that there were no appointments in the Unani hospitals for a long time. Apart from doctors, paramedical staff, nurses, ward stewards among others were not being recruited in any of the hospitals in AP and Telangana for a long time. At the same time, the funds that are released for the functioning of the hospitals are neither regular nor sufficient.

A private unani doctor Moahammed Kashif said that government must take immediate steps to save the method of treatment in the State as unani was a side effect-free treatment. He said that authoritarian apathy was responsible for such a sorrow stage. There are around 196 unani dispensaries and five hospitals across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.