Hyderabad: After shutting down around 400 degree colleges, the TS Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) instructed other colleges not to add new sections to existing classes. Besides, the council will not permit new colleges.
There were no takers for 1.7 lakh seats in degree colleges this academic year, leading to the TSCHE curbs for 2018-19. The state has about 1,000 degree colleges of which 51 witnessed zero admissions.
College managements have opposed the measure, and want popular colleges to be allowed to add sections where they are needed.
A senior official from a private degree college said, “They propose to close a section if admissions are below 25 per cent of sanctioned intake. For a section of 60 seats in BCom, minimum admissions should be 15. If the college does not get 15 students, that section will be withdrawn. Similarly, in a college, if a 60-seat section is filled, and there are more students seeking seats, that college should be allowed to take more students.’’
He said the TSCHE contends that if a college took more students, the other colleges would be affected. But what the council was not factoring in was that students would not join college they do not like.
Telangana Private Degree College Association general-secretary Vijay Bhaskar Reddy said: “We have also requested the TSCHE to close colleges which have zero admissions.”
He said if the colleges are shut down, more than 15,000 staff will be jobless and students from rural background will suffer. He said the government has to pay '600 crore to private colleges in the form of fee reimbursement.
Prof R. Limbadri, convener of DOST, said, “As per norms, there should be around two sections per group and the colleges should not go beyond the fixed limit.”
As most seats were lying vacant, Why do they need more sections? If colleges have any demand, they should approach us or the university,” he said.
