Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has accused the TRS Government of completely neglecting education sector in the State.
Addressing a press conference, along with TPCC Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy, at Gandhi Bhavan here on Thursday, Shabbir Ali said Telangana now ranks 29th in terms of spending on education. Quoting recent statistics released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shabbir Ali said as against the overall expenditure, the State’s expenditure on education was a mere 10.8% in 2014-15 and it came down to just 10% in 2015-16. He said this expenditure is much below the national average of 16.4%. Comparatively, he said neighbouring States were spending more on education sector. While Chattisgarh had spent 19.4%, it was 19.1% in Maharashtra, 16.2% in Andhra Pradesh and 14.4% in Karnataka in 2015-16.
Demanding that the State Government double its spending on education to take it at least 20%, Shabbir Ali said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao should take immediate measures to prevent the education sector from further deterioration. “In its manifesto, TRS had promised KG to PG free education. It apparently meant education free KG to PG educatioinoi everyone. After losing two academic years, KCR finally came up with a plan to start 250 residential schools under the KG to PG scheme. This means that KG to PG free education will now benefit only a few hundred students, while 1.5 crore other students would not gain anything out of it,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said hundreds of free residential schools for SC, ST, BC and minorities were started during previous Congress regime and by just adding 250 new schools, KCR wants to take credit for everything. He said that during last budget session, State Government tabled a statement in the House which said that the literacy rate in Telangana was 66.46% which was much below the national literacy rate of 73.99%.
The Congress leader said while deliberately damaging the education sector, KCR has been targeting Right to Education Act which could help the State in eradicating illiteracy from the State. He said it was a matter of shame that Supreme Court has rapped the Telangana Government for zero admissions in 398 government schools. Further, he said 410 private and un-aided colleges have closed since TRS came to power. They include 88 Engineering, 26 B-Pharmacy, 40 MCA, 84 MBA, 49 BEd, 99 M. Tech, 21 M. Pharmacy and three D-Pharmacy colleges. He said this year more than 40 engineering colleges have applied for closure.
Similarly, he said a total of 46,040 seats in different courses got reduced in Telangana since 2014-15. They include 2702 B-Pharmacy, 2880 MCA, 13,238 MBA, 6,374 B.Ed., 16,098 M.Tech and 4,748 M. Pharmacy seats.
Shabbir Ali said in Degree Colleges, out of 116 Principals posts, 70 are vacant; Out of 2761 Lecturers posts, 1105 are vacant; Out of 63 Physical Directors posts, 36 are vacant and out of total 3007 posts, 1247 are vacant. He said there is no Vice-Chancellor in all State universities since TRS came to power in 2014. (INN)