The negligence of the Congress government in the state has become a curse for students. The management of professional colleges in Telangana has gone on a rampage after the government did not pay the fee reimbursement dues due to them. They have called for an indefinite bandh of colleges from the 15th of this month.
They have warned that they will intensify the agitation if the fees are not paid by the end of this month. To this extent, representatives of the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Institutions (FATHI) met the Chairman of the Higher Education Council, Professor V. Balakishta Reddy, on Friday and handed over a notice.
The management of colleges in the state, fed up with the fee reimbursement arrears, have decided to close the colleges. The FATHI representatives have decided to lock all the educational institutions en masse. They have announced that they will observe an indefinite bandh of colleges from the 15th of this month, and that they will not open the colleges or hold classes. They announced on this occasion that if the dues are not released by September 30, they will intensify the agitation.
They said that the government has taken this closure decision because it has gone around the country to collect the fee reimbursement dues, but to no avail. With this decision, more than 1,500 private engineering, MBA, MCA, B.Ed, pharmacy, nursing and other professional colleges in the state will be closed.
With this, more than 10 lakh students will lose out. A total of about Rs. 10,000 crores in fee reimbursement and other fee arrears have been accumulated for the respective colleges. They have decided to observe Engineers’ Day as a black day in protest against the non-release of fee reimbursement.
Many appeals have been made to release fee reimbursement and scholarships. Fathi representatives met all the government officials including Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka and CS Ramakrishna Rao. But the government acted like it was a lemon.
Funds were not released even for those for which tokens were issued. As the fee reimbursement arrears of colleges piled up, the college managements prepared for a joint struggle. As part of this, the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Institutions (FATHI) was formed.