The managements of private schools, colleges and professional institutions in the T-region are divided over reopening the educational institutions from October 10, following the Dasara vacation.

Most of them have been closed since September 18 in support of the ongoing agitation for Telangana. Meanwhile, all private schools, including those affiliated to the CBSE and the ICSE boards, have decided to reopen from October 10 as scheduled. Even the managements of professional colleges such as the engineering, medicine and MBA are in favour of reopening the colleges from October 10.

Colleges, schools afraid of not completing syllabus
“We have to conduct classes for the final year engineering students as campus recruitment drives will be conducted for these students,” said Dr P. Rajeshwar Reddy, general secretary, Consortium of Engineering Colleges Managements Association. “We cannot afford to keep the schools closed anymore. We have to complete the syllabus on time. We have lost a significant number of working days. It would be tough for our students to perform well in the Board exams if any more working days are lost,” said Ms D. Usha Reddy, chairperson, Hyderabad Sahodaya Schools Complex, an association of CBSE schools in the city.

The managements in other parts of Telangana have decided to adopt a “wait and watch policy” till October 9, before making a final decision in anticipation that the Telangana Joint Action Committee may soften its stand on the indefinite strike, at least so far as the educational institutions are concerned. However, the lack of transportation due to the indefinite strike called by the APSRTC employees has become a cause of concern for the managements of these educational institutions.

Nearly 70 per cent of the students rely on public transportation while only 30 per cent depend on the transport provided by their respective institutions. The managements of the institutions are also under immense pressure from parents, particularly parents of school children, who are demanding the reopening of schools from October 10. They are annoyed at the managements for declaring holidays from September 18, making it the longest Dasara vacation in the history of the state.

Source : DC

Hyderabad : With the T-universities scheduling the semester examinations for Novem-ber this year, the students pursuing various courses at hundreds of engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA colleges in the region are feeling the heat. These students have been left in the lurch by the bandhs that led to the closure of the colleges which have not even been able to complete a quarter of the syllabus. Colleges have been closed since September 18.

While the universities prepared to test the students’ knowledge, the people who were supposed to impart that knowledge were busy staying away from work purportedly to support the Sakala Janula Samme. About 500 engineering and pharmacy colleges are affiliated to the JNTU-Hyderabad and over three lakh students are pursuing various professional courses in these colleges. There are 450 other MBA and MCA colleges in the T-region.

All the second, third and fourth year students are scheduled to appear for the first semester examinations in November. The students are not in a position even to pay the exam fee since the colleges remain closed. The college managements have announced that they will not open colleges till the APSRTC resumes its bus services completely. Students are caught in a catch-22 situation where on one hand they face the risk of “attendance shortage” due to closure of colleges, and on the other hand their syllabus remains “incomplete.”

“Our college started on September 5. We attended classes for 10 days when the strike disrupted everything on September 18. The colleges remain closed ever since,” said N. Bharghav, a first year B.Tech student. Students and parents see no chance of the colleges resuming before October 10. They are only hoping that the T-outfits will call off their agitation after Dasara and colleges will function normally.

Source : DC