'Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana' leaves college seats empty

Hyderabad: The Telangana State government’s decision to scrap the fee reimbursement scheme and introduce the Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana (FAST) scheme seems to be having an effect, as nearly 35 per cent seats in the Telangana management colleges lie vacant. In Andhra Pradesh, where the government is continuing with the fee reimbursement scheme, 22 per cent management college seats remained vacant.

Though the FAST scheme introduced by the TS government had invited the wrath of the Hyderabad High Court, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is steadfast in implementing it. “The Chief Minister wants to cut the flow of Andhra students into Hyderabad, and he doesn’t want the colleges to be the beneficiaries of the schem-e,” a senior official of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education.

Considering the number of seats lying vacant, the scheme seems to be serving the government’s purpose. Even in the engineering colleges, about 12,000 seats went vacant in TS. Telangana has about 40,000 management seats , but only about 25,000 students turned up for admissions. “The state wants only deserving Telangana students to get admissions and that is happening,” said a higher education department official.