Hyderabad: The status of higher education in Telangana is not up to the mark, said experts. There are 40 lakh students between 18 and 23 years eligible to collegiate education for the state, but only 3.55 lakh are studying in colleges against 62.63 lakh capacity, said senior education expert Nagati Narayana.
According to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2016-2017, about 79.4 per cent students enrolled for undergraduate level programme, which is approximately 28.34 million students. Thirty-eight per cent, the highest number, enrolled in arts, humanities and social science courses, followed by science — 16.7 per cent, engineering and technology — 14.7 per cent and commerce — 14.1 per cent at the undergraduate level.
‘’Moreover 80 per cent of them are in private colleges. Of the 2,879 colleges, 2,537 are private and only 342 are government colleges out of which 212 are engineering colleges in the state., including government and private ones. Hence, non-accessibility to government colleges and unaffordable private colleges are major hurdles to youth to join higher education.
“Another lapse is inadequate faculty. Less than 30 per cent regular lecturers are working in government colleges. Unless this situation is changed, the condition of higher education will not change in Telangana state,’’ he added.
The government is giving more priority to engineering education, following the aspirations of parents. The government needs to have a comprehensive outlook of education and should not be one-sided, he felt. The need for engineers was very less whereas that for administrators from humanities and economists is high. But as per TSCHE statistics, there are around 69,000 students pursuing engineering courses, he said.
The government is allocating major funds to engineering colleges resulting in cutting down of regular colleges, Mr Nagati said.
