The ‘illegally’ admitted students of the Guru Nanak University and Sreenidhi University into engineering and other academic programmes will be accommodated into other private universities and private colleges but the challenges are many before the government.
More than 3,000 students’ future is in a dilemma with both institutions unable to conduct the exams despite conducting classes as the government had not accorded them permission to admit students. Both the institutions went ahead with admissions without any official order though the Assembly passed a bill recognising them as private universities.
The bill was passed in the Assembly on Sept 13, 2022, but the Governor, Tamilisai Soundararajan has not yet given her consent raising some queries on the process of permission and also the facilities. The queries were sent for clarification and the government also submitted its compliance report, a senior official revealed. The delay has put a question on the future of about 3,000 students and their academic year likely to go waste.
A senior official agreed that both the institutions had no right to admit students without the Government Order in their hands. “But they were under the impression that the orders would come since the bill was passed by the Assembly,” he said. Parents and students have been on warpath questioning the institutions over the admissions saying they were misled into taking admission.
Realising the situation is unlikely to improve, the government has decided to shift them to other institutions taking the consent of students and parents apart from those institutions ready to admit them. The Education Minister, Sabita Indra Reddy recently held a meeting with senior officials on the path to be taken and officials informed that shifting the students was the only option or else they would lose their precious academic year.
The government now has to shift about 1,000 engineering students of Guru Nanak University and 300 engineering students of Srinidhi University. The Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) Chairman, Prof. R. Limbadri said officials are working out a formula. There are three options for students – to get admitted in another private university or a deemed university or a private college affiliated to JNTU Hyderabad or Osmania University. The government is also looking at the vacancies in the University colleges.
But the challenges are many as these students are forced to look for colleges with the second semester ending soon. Their first concern would be whether they would get their preferred choice of course and when would be the first semester exams conducted even as others will be ready to write the second semester. No one has the answer on how they would plug the academic days lost.
The institutions willing to accommodate them will face another challenge in conducting special classes for them before ensuring that they are on par with their regular students. An official said that a few hundred students have already taken their certificates from those institutions and shifted to private universities outside the state.
The government is, however, confident of solving the issue. Prof. Limbadri says they will ensure that the academic year of these students is saved and the guidelines are being framed. “Within a week or 10 days the picture will be clear,” he said.
