Fate of Inter students hangs in balance.

HYDERABAD : The fate of Intermediate students in ‘T’ region remains stuck in a limbo with talks between minister for secondary education, K Parthasarathi, and the striking Telangana Vidyavanthula JAC failing on Tuesday. The JAC representatives have decided to continue the Sakala Janula Samme that has already completed 36 days.

However, a minor union of government lecturers, Telangana Junior Lecturers, that has about 120 members in the region has called off the strike and reported for work on Tuesday. The Vidyavanthula JAC, the union that has decided to continue the strike, has about 7,000 members.

Those affected by the strike includes not just the 397 government and aided Intermediate colleges, teachers of which are part of the strike, but also thousands of private colleges which are being forced to remain shut by ‘T’ agitators. The government colleges have lost as many as 34 working days. Private college officials say that they have lost about 18 days due to the strike.

While on Tuesday, several private junior colleges opened after a three-week-long closure, the attendance levels were very low as many students did not turn up for classes fearing protests by Telangana agitators. The faculty of private junior colleges said that it would take about a week’s time to assess the damage done by the strike.

“We’ll have to go by a rigorous training schedule where not a single holiday is granted for students to complete portions before IIT, AIEEE and Intermediate Public Examination (IPE). If the striking teachers expect the colleges to remain closed till they call off the strike, the students from the region will not fare well in any examination this year,” rued a teacher from Sri Chaitanya Junior College, Hyderabad. Owned by Andhra managements, many prominent colleges still fear a continued ‘T’ backlash, the colleges explained.

Students said that if there is any delay in the conduct of Intermediate examinations, the students will find in difficult to prepare for both IIT and AIEEE examination which fall on April 8 and April 29 respectively.

“The students are used to writing the all India entrance examinations soon after the Intermediate exams. With the uncertainly about IPE looming large right now, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) should make sure that the students’ future are not put to test,” said a senior teacher of Narayana Junior College.

Alarmingly, the strike has affected the schedule of Intermediate examinations as the last date of application for IPE-2012 (first year) is postponed by two weeks to October 24. The board has not yet notified the application dates for Intermediate second year. Students and parents from the city are worried that this will affect the careers of several students who plan to write all India entrance examinations, including IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

Source : TOI