A Collective voice for a Collective Cause

Muslim organisations have decided to come together to press upon the State government for early implementation of 12 per cent reservations to the Muslim community as promised by the ruling party.

-Participating at a round table organised by Muslim Reservation JAC on Saturday, various organisations have decided to chalk out a programme to press the government in this regard

-The community leaders urged the State government to speed up the process of providing reservations to the Muslims as promised during the elections

Participating at a round table organised by Muslim Reservation JAC on Saturday, various organisations have decided to chalk out a programme to press the government in this regard. The community leaders urged the State government to speed up the process of providing reservations to the Muslims as promised during the elections. Several social activists including political JAC chairman Prof M Kodandaram and others have come forward to support.

Muslim Reservations Joint Action Committee convener Haneef Ahmed said that government must come up with a sub-plan for Muslim community in the State. He said that besides providing reservations, protection to Wakf properties and judicial powers to the board should be provided. He said that JAC would soon organise public meeting in city for 12 per cent reservations and would take up a struggle for the same.

Communist Party of India Telangana State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy said that the only way to eradicate poverty and illiteracy in the Muslim community was to provide reservations to the eligible. Prof M Kodanda Ram said that demand for reservations to the Muslim community was just and democratic. He said that a democratic struggle should be planned by the civil society members to achieve the real objective of separate Telangana State.

Welfare Party Telangana co-convener Mohammed Rahmath said that Muslims must be provided with the reservations and it is their right. He said that the socio-economic and education conditions of Muslim community could be bettered with reservations and others. Advocate Shafiullah Quadri has demanded the State government to ensure proper implementation 4 per cent reservations in all kind of recruitments until the 12 per cent reservation is implemented.

He lamented for the delay in the process of implementation of reservations to the Muslims, who have participated in the Telangana movement as a community in the hope of getting their due share in the development.

Telangana Samajika Vedika convener Gali Vinod Kumar opined that the newly formed State could not achieve its objective of all round development until the marginalised sections of the society are not rewarded with their due share in the society. He said that tribals and Muslim communities in Telangana need upliftment in every aspect.

Comprehensive Evaluation for IIT

Mohammed Younus :

Educationists and academicians bat for the better implementation of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in the State to increase the number of students in IITs from Telangana.

-The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation pattern of education was adopted by the State School Education Department last year,after a series of consultations and brainstorming sessions. The first batch of SSC students has even attempted their final examination as per this programme

-The method of teaching involves analysis of learning levels of students. This helps students think analytically and understand the subject rather memorising the notes

The CCE pattern of education was adopted by the State School Education Department last year after a series of consultations and brainstorming sessions. The first batch of SSC students has even attempted their final examination as per this programme. The educationists say that the concept of CCE has been derived from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) which also conducts the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admissions into Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) besides other national institutes.

Better implementation of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) pattern in the schools can groom the students at a younger age to be able to qualify for the highly competitive examinations across the country, said an IIT trainer Pawan Kumar Kasu. He said that the method of teaching adopted by the educators involves analysis of learning levels of the students. This helps students think analytically and understand the subject rather memorising the notes.

On the other hand, students would understand the core of the subject beyond mere headlines or title of the subjects. He said that there were so many similarities between CCE and JEE examination, the pattern of questions in both the examinations is very much similar. “With the help of CCE it has become very easy for the students who want to go for IITs these days because the students are taught in this pattern from the 6th standards that is sufficient for students to become competent enough for JEE examination by the time they reach higher classes”, said Pawan.

Similarly, it is to be reminded that the central government has recently mandated all the State boards to strictly follow the guidelines prepared by the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT). Though there have been a difference of opinion on this issue but several academicians have termed it a good move for promoting quality education. State Council for Education, Research and Training (SCERT) Prof K Krishnamohan Rao said that the CCE module of teaching was prepared in light of the guidelines of the NCERT.

Fee Reimbursement Dues Go Up

 Mohammed Younus :

Lakhs of students in the State have been literally left in the lurch as their long wait for the release of tuition fee and reimbursement dues amounting to Rs 2,500 crore cumulatively by the government is getting longer. Adding to their travails several college managements have held back the original SSC and intermediate certificates and other documents of eligible students. 

This continues despite a notice being served on college managements by the Commissioner of Collegiate Education some time ago, which clearly stated that severe action would be taken against managements that hold back certificates/documents of students for want of reimbursement dues. As per records available with the Welfare Department, the State government has to release Rs 270 crore for the year 2013-14 and Rs 2,000 crore for academic year 2014-15.

Though the Welfare Department has released some amount for the previous academic year, no amount has been released for the 2014-15 academic year. The most recent release of tuition fee and reimbursement were made in March this year. According to existent procedures, reimbursement amounts are transferred directly to the accounts of college managements and tuition fee as maintenance fee is given to students.

SFI State secretary B Sambasiva said that due to delay in reimbursement of arrears, students are being made to undergo harrowing moments by college managements. He said, “Students have been denied their certificates/documents for lack of reimbursements and many could not pursue their dreams of higher education as managements have remained adamant on their decision.”
In March, government released Rs 434.14 crore towards scholarships and Rs 159.16 crore as maintenance fee.

Similarly, about Rs 100 crore was released under tuition fee and Rs 9 crore as maintenance fee. With an increase in the number of students this academic year, State government needs to release at least Rs 2,500 crore or more under the fee reimbursement and scholarships at various levels. ABVP State secretary J Niranjan said State government was deliberately delaying the process of issuing fee arrears. He said despite several agitations and representations in this issue, arrears were not being released.

He said, “Students have been subjected to harassment due to non-payment of fee arrears across the State. College managements have been holding back certificates of students.”
The number of eligible candidates at various levels in the previous academic year was more or less 7 lakh and it is nearly 13 lakh for the academic year 2014-15.

Heritage Lovers on the Rescue

Raising their voice against the decision of State government to demolish Osmania General Hospital, heritage lovers and civil society members on Tuesday assembled in large numbers outside the OGH heritage structure to make themselves heard.

-Members from city based civil socitey groups and heritage lovers have assembled outside OGH heritage structure to make their voices heard and chalked out a number of reasons as to why government should not demolish the age old building, often considered as a pride of the city

-“Osmania General Hospital building is like a Taj Mahal for the booming Medical Tourism sector of the city”

A delegation of civil society members, including the alumni of Osmania Hospital, met the Minorities Commission chairperson and interacted with Archaeological Department director Sunitha M Bhagawath and shared their concerns over the decision. Speaking on the occasion, Minorities Commission chairman Abid Rasool Khan said the commission would convey the views aired by the civil society members to State government.

He said that commission would communicate the concerns of citizens through such interactions with the government representatives to build a proper understanding on the issue that involves a historic building. Expressing serious concern over the extrapolative decision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Osmania Old Boys Association convenor Dr Iqbal Javeed said government should have thought of developing OGH from the perspective of medical tourism.

He said, “Osmania General Hospital building is like a Taj Mahal for the booming Medical Tourism sector of the city. People from across the globe come to see the historic structures like this, which helps to enhance the tourism sector.” He said previous rulers constructed the Osmania Hospital, High Court, Salarjung Museum and Central Library on the banks of Musi River in front of each other keeping in view the symbolic compatibility of the buildings.

“If government removes OGH, then it would deface the beauty of the years-long aesthetic beauty of the construction on the other side,” he opined. On the other hand Forum for Better Hyderabad general secretary O Maneckshaw Debara said that a larger part of the total 26.5 acres land of the Osmania Hospital was open and new buildings can be constructed on that land. He said, “Osmania Hospital is the icon of Hyderabad. It has to be restored because it can be restored to its earlier position with only Rs 7 crores. Government should think over it.”

Archaeological department director Sunitha Bhagawath said that all the concerns of the civil society members would be conveyed to the State government for further action. She said that repairing and maintenance was needed for many other historic buildings in the city. State government takes decisions as per the need and looking at the conditions of the structure, she added.

Enquiry Commission for Reservations

Mohammed Younus :

With barely one month of its six-month tenure remaining, the Commission of Enquiry established by the government to study the socio-economic conditions of the Muslim community in the State, it would be holding its first official meeting on Monday to finalise the roadmap. The commission was established on March 3, 2015 to study the socio-economic conditions of the community to take necessary steps for providing 12 per cent reservations to the deserving poor.

However, due to lack of office space and proper quorum of members the commission could not start its function during the past five months, except few meetings with officials from several departments concerned. Earlier only chairman and a member were appointed and selection of other members was not carried out until July, 2015. In the last week of July, the State government appointed two more members for the commission.

Though the intention of the government was to collect a detailed report to provide reservations, the tardy start of the commission’s work irking the community. The Muslim community elders have been demanding for the early preparation of the report but nothing has been materialised yet. The commission was allotted office space in Shakar Bhavan in July, when only one month is left for completion of the job.

Tameer e Millat State secretary Abdul Raheem Qureshi said that the government should have constituted B C Welfare Commission and procedure of giving reservation must have followed. He said, “we have to wait for the outcome of the commission’s enquiry, then only we can comment on the issue that whether it can deliver any good for the beleaguered community or not.” Enquiry Commission chairman G Sudhir, who was conferred with chief secretary rank recently, said that he would ask the government for extension to carry out the task it has been given.

                                                              -----------

Commission’s responsibilities
• Was set up on March 3, 2015 by a Government Order and was given six months’ time to give a report
•Not given an office space until July, past five months of its inception
•To gather data on socio-economic-educational conditions of Muslim community
•Take data as per the nine terms of references stipulated by the government
•Collate data procured by the different agencies, study, analyse and submit the report
•Recommend suitable steps for removing the impediments in the improvement of the overall conditions of the community                                     -----

He however, said clarity was needed whether the time of Enquiry Commission would begin after the initiation of the enquiry or from the date of inception. As part of the enquiry, the commission would collect and collate data pertaining to the Muslim community in the State from various government agencies and recommend the suitable remedy for the upliftment of the community. 

“We will have data from National Sample Survey records, government departments, various census reports, Bureau of Economic & Statistics and others besides interacting with community leaders to prepare dossier based on the terms of references given to us”, said Sudhir. Mufti Mohammed Sadiq Mohiuddin said that if the government needed the socio-economic data of the community for technical reasons, it should have gathered it as early as possible.

He said, “Muslim community in Telangana need justice in terms of social, economic and educational upliftment. Delay in the process of providing them reservations would probably result in the loss of confidence in the government.”

There are about nine different terms of references set up by the State government for the commission that include collation of data from State & central agencies, study, survey the socio economic conditions, rate of employment in private & government sectors, health care indicators and others.

Counseling Spells Doom

By Mohammed Younus

No takers for nearly 27,000 seats; No admissions in seven colleges;  only one admission each in 29 colleges

Believe it or not, there are absolutely no takers for nearly 27,000 seats in various privateengineering and pharmacy colleges in Telangana this year, which is all set to force nearly 100 colleges either down their shutters or scale down their courses in the near future.

As the the final phase of EAMCET 2015 counselling came to a close on Friday for admissions of students into 231 engineering colleges and 132 pharmacy colleges in Telangana, nearly 36 per cent of the seats remained unfilled. Out of the total number of 86,805 seats, only 56,017 seats got filled. This includes 52,808 out of 79,484 engineering seats available; and only 84 out of 3,740 pharmacy seats.

Surprisingly, as many as seven colleges registered zero admissions and about 29 colleges could only manage to get only one admission each. Scores of other colleges registered less than 100 admissions. Only 91 colleges were able to fill the seats which they were allotted by the university, indicating a sharp decline of demand among the students for engineering courses in these colleges.

Out of the total 98,643 candidates qualified in the first phase, only 66,410 attended the counseling and 62,668 exercised their options.Ironically about 11,000 students did not report to the colleges in the stipulated time even after being allotted with the seats in various engineering colleges.

“Each college has an intake of at least 240 seats in the first year, with a minimum of 60 seats in each branch – civil, mechanical, electrical, electronics, computer science etc. Some colleges have seats even up to 800. The colleges can run the courses if at least 75 per cent of the seats are filled up. But going by the present trend of admissions this year, many engineering colleges will not be able to sustain and they have no option but to wind up,” an official said.

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University of Hyderabad (JNTUH), after several rounds of inspections, has disaffiliated and disallowed several private engineering colleges from the counseling for admissions. The university has affiliated about 220 colleges, disallowing 25 colleges and disaffiliating several courses in many other colleges.

However, the college managements managed to get the interim orders from the High Court to participate in counseling. Despite the entire legal efforts by the private engineering college managements, the percentage of admissions in many colleges was not encouraging rather disappointing. “The fact that seven colleges got zero admissions and 29 colleges registered only one admission during the counselling shows the lack of credibility of these colleges. It is surprising as to how the University granted them affiliation and how they could get clearance from the inspection committee,” a source said.

Except a few engineering colleges who could fill up all their seats including those in the 30 per cent management quota, the remaining colleges could not fill up the seats even in the government quota, leave alone in the management quota.

While the government quota (also referred to as convenor quota) is filled up through a centralised counselling process with the students on the basis of their ranks obtained in the engineering entrance test, the management quota is filled up by the college managements at their discretion with the students irrespective of their performance in the entrance test. Educationists and academicians are raising serious questions over the large number of engineering colleges across the state in the back drop of poor admissions.While the percent of students appearing for EAMCET decreased, the number of students opting for engineering courses has also come down compared to the previous year.

Noted educationist Prof G Haragopal said that government must shun the idea of privatizing higher education at least now. He said, “We have to think over the large number of engineering colleges at least now. We do not need such a large number of engineers. Higher education in the state must be public funded.” Lack of proper education and bleak prospects of employment has been driving students away from the engineering colleges in the State, he opined.

Chief Camp Officer for Eamcet 2015 counseling B Srinivas Rao said that inspections were being held in the colleges which have petitioned against the decision of JNTUH and a final report assessing the credentials of colleges would be filed in High Court very soon. On the other hand, private engineering colleges consortium chairman N Goutham Rao said that colleges which did not register any admission this year may not shut down immediately but such colleges may closed down ultimately. He said that some colleges may run for some more time as they have other courses besides graduation.

Counseling Spells Doom

By Mohammed Younus

No takers for nearly 27,000 seats; No admissions in seven colleges;  only one admission each in 29 colleges

Believe it or not, there are absolutely no takers for nearly 27,000 seats in various privateengineering and pharmacy colleges in Telangana this year, which is all set to force nearly 100 colleges either down their shutters or scale down their courses in the near future.

As the the final phase of EAMCET 2015 counselling came to a close on Friday for admissions of students into 231 engineering colleges and 132 pharmacy colleges in Telangana, nearly 36 per cent of the seats remained unfilled. Out of the total number of 86,805 seats, only 56,017 seats got filled. This includes 52,808 out of 79,484 engineering seats available; and only 84 out of 3,740 pharmacy seats.

Surprisingly, as many as seven colleges registered zero admissions and about 29 colleges could only manage to get only one admission each. Scores of other colleges registered less than 100 admissions. Only 91 colleges were able to fill the seats which they were allotted by the university, indicating a sharp decline of demand among the students for engineering courses in these colleges.

Out of the total 98,643 candidates qualified in the first phase, only 66,410 attended the counseling and 62,668 exercised their options.Ironically about 11,000 students did not report to the colleges in the stipulated time even after being allotted with the seats in various engineering colleges.

“Each college has an intake of at least 240 seats in the first year, with a minimum of 60 seats in each branch – civil, mechanical, electrical, electronics, computer science etc. Some colleges have seats even up to 800. The colleges can run the courses if at least 75 per cent of the seats are filled up. But going by the present trend of admissions this year, many engineering colleges will not be able to sustain and they have no option but to wind up,” an official said.

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University of Hyderabad (JNTUH), after several rounds of inspections, has disaffiliated and disallowed several private engineering colleges from the counseling for admissions. The university has affiliated about 220 colleges, disallowing 25 colleges and disaffiliating several courses in many other colleges.

However, the college managements managed to get the interim orders from the High Court to participate in counseling. Despite the entire legal efforts by the private engineering college managements, the percentage of admissions in many colleges was not encouraging rather disappointing. “The fact that seven colleges got zero admissions and 29 colleges registered only one admission during the counselling shows the lack of credibility of these colleges. It is surprising as to how the University granted them affiliation and how they could get clearance from the inspection committee,” a source said.

Except a few engineering colleges who could fill up all their seats including those in the 30 per cent management quota, the remaining colleges could not fill up the seats even in the government quota, leave alone in the management quota.

While the government quota (also referred to as convenor quota) is filled up through a centralised counselling process with the students on the basis of their ranks obtained in the engineering entrance test, the management quota is filled up by the college managements at their discretion with the students irrespective of their performance in the entrance test. Educationists and academicians are raising serious questions over the large number of engineering colleges across the state in the back drop of poor admissions.While the percent of students appearing for EAMCET decreased, the number of students opting for engineering courses has also come down compared to the previous year.

Noted educationist Prof G Haragopal said that government must shun the idea of privatizing higher education at least now. He said, “We have to think over the large number of engineering colleges at least now. We do not need such a large number of engineers. Higher education in the state must be public funded.” Lack of proper education and bleak prospects of employment has been driving students away from the engineering colleges in the State, he opined.

Chief Camp Officer for Eamcet 2015 counseling B Srinivas Rao said that inspections were being held in the colleges which have petitioned against the decision of JNTUH and a final report assessing the credentials of colleges would be filed in High Court very soon. On the other hand, private engineering colleges consortium chairman N Goutham Rao said that colleges which did not register any admission this year may not shut down immediately but such colleges may closed down ultimately. He said that some colleges may run for some more time as they have other courses besides graduation.