After cracking the whip on 170 engineering colleges by cancelling their affiliations, the Telangana state government has now set its eyes on management, MCA and B.Ed colleges, which failed to meet faculty, infrastructure and salary requirements as per AICTE and state government norms.
The government has ordered inspection of these colleges to identify “deficiencies” and cancel their affiliations prior to commencement of ICet and Edcet counselling. Nearly 200 MBA and MCA colleges, and another 150 B.Ed colleges, are likely to lose affiliation, revealed official sources in the higher education department.
Thanks to the 1956 cut-off year for being eligible for fee reimbursement and scholarships, and cancellation of affiliation to colleges, the burden on the Telangana government is set to lighten up significantly this year.
The state government, which was supposed to bear Rs 4,000 crore this year on account of previous fee arrears and fresh admissions this year, is expected to incur just over Rs 1,000 crore, going by the latest developments.
The TS government is all set to issue fresh guidelines making it mandatory that parents ancestors of students should have been residents of Telangana prior to November 1, 1956, to be eligible for fee reimbursement and scholarships.
At present, about 13 lakh students are availing these benefits in Telangana, which is expected to come down to less than 6 lakh once the 1956 cut-off norm is implemented. Similarly, the reduction of seats by over 50 per cent due to cancellation of affiliations and not including them in the counselling list will also result in availability of fewer seats for students in merit quota. Only students who secure seats in the merit quota in counselling are eligible for government benefits, which too will come down steeply due to fewer seats.
