Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that the wrong priorities set by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and the distorted logic adopted by his government has ruined the entire education sector in Telangana State.
Speaking at the Round Table Conference organised by KG to PG Educational Institutions Joint Action Committee at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram here on Thursday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana was apparently the only State in the country where number of educational institutions and students’ enrolment were on decline. During the last three-and-a-half years, the situation has worsened not only in government institutions, but also in private institutions.
Quoting figures compiled by the JAC, he said while there were 2100 junior colleges in Telangana in 2014-15, they got reduced to 1650 in 2017-18. While the students’ enrolment in government junior colleges reduced from 4.45 lakh in 2014-15 to 4.30 lakh in 2017-18, it declined from 3.20 lakh to 2.90 lakh students in corporate colleges. Number of lecturers too got reduced by 1,000 to 56,000 in 2017-18. Similarly, number of Affiliated Degree Colleges came down from 1078 in 2014-15 to 960 in 2017-18, while 25 Affiliated PG Colleges were closed during the same period. Consequently, number of students got reduced by over 5,000. The number of degree and PG residential colleges remained static at 180 with 1.70 lakh students during the last three years. He also expressed concern over reported closure of over 3100 primary schools under TRS regime.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the TRS Government, which came to power on the promise of providing KG to PG free education, was not willing to give a clarification on the reasons for closure of educational institutions in such a large number. With the growing population, the number of institutions and students should increase ever year. However, KCR Government is not paying any attention to the deteriorating condition of education sector in the State. He said whenever the opposition raised the issue in Assembly, the government came up with a contention that it increased number of residential schools for various communities. He pointed out that the existing 544 residential schools were benefiting only a small percentage of students, while the State has over 52 lakh students from KG to PG who are being neglected.
The TPCC chief said KCR was the only Chief Minister who daringly lied on the floor of Assembly on multiple occasions on clearing Fee Reimbursement dues. Stating that KCR had once called private institutions ‘Education Mafia’, he alleged that the Chief Minister was sabotaging the government institutions to benefit the same corporate sector. He pointed out one survey conducted by an NGO, Rythu Swaraj, which revealed that one of the major reasons for farmers’ suicide was their inability to afford education for their children in corporate institutions. He said that the TRS Government has failed to regulate fee structure in private sector and a few institutions were being allowed to loot the parents.
Uttam Kumar Reddy assured that the Congress party would fully support the fight of recognised institutions in getting their due share from the government.
Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) Chairman Prof. M. Kodandaram, BC Welfare Association national president and MLA R. Krishnaiah, TDP leader Ravula Chandrashekhar Reddy and other experts and academicians also participated in the Round Table Conference.