Andhra Pradesh government’s promised to reimbursement the tuition fee.
As many as 75 private engineering colleges have stopped admissions
for the current academic year and have put themselves up for sale in view of the
Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to stagger the tuition fee reimbursement programme.
The S Rajasekhara Reddy government had promoted an
2,750 - crore program to benefit 27 lakh students enrolled in plus-two to higher
studies, which the present Kiran Kumar Reddy-led government has ventured to scale
down for the current academic year. As per the new guidelines, students with 75
per cent attendance, 50 per cent marks in first year of plus-two and an income of
below
one lakh in a year are eligible for reimbursement of tuition fees. The government
decision has dealt a death blow to 720 private engineering colleges in the state.
At least 75 colleges, 50 in and around Hyderabad, have offered themselves for sale.
“The set back in government policy to promote higher education through tuition fee
reimbursement scheme has resulted in 75 corporate colleges becoming unviable,” a
spokesman for the state council for higher education (AICTE) said. Officials said
colleges that were started to cash in on the government policy since 2007 managed
to get AICTE approval, leaving the state with a record 2.75 lakh seats in around
720 colleges. Hoping to make a quick buck with the government policy of reimbursing
fees, the educational institutions got approvals for another 75 engineering colleges
last year. But both the Rosaiah and Kiran Reddy government’s dilly dallied and even
delayed payments of reimbursements for the last two years, putting students and
also the colleges in deep financial crisis.
The new guideline, which has been challenged in court, will deny benefits of the
scheme to nearly 13 lakh out of 27 lakh students and would get an allocation of
about
1,250 crore, against
2,750 crore now. State Higher Social Welfare Minister Pithani Satyanarayana said;
the government, said no government could operate a scheme with no ceiling. As a
result of the lopsided implementation of the scheme till 2009-10, the government
is yet to clear
1,235 crore in arrears and, in the last two academic years, courts had come to the
succor of the students, permitting them to write exams with out payment of fees
in full. “The courts have made it clear, that they will not help the government
for a third time. Hence, the rush to regulate the scheme,” said an official of the
higher education department.
Courtesy: Deccan Heralde
