Political paralysis hitting the TS education sector hard?

Hyderabad: Is policy paralysis hurting Telangana’s education sector? If what’s happening is any indication, the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

The officials, i.e. secretaries, commissioners and directors at the state level, heads of higher collegiate departments of technology and school education, have changed since the formation of the state.

Similarly, there are changes in the management positions of the State Board of Secondary Education and the Board of Secondary Education in the Telangana State Board of Higher Education.

Moreover, for ten years the campaign has been carried out at state universities by vice-rectors, working full-time and part-time.

However, “decisions on key education policies drag on for years,” says a former official of the State Department of Higher Education.

First, the major policy decision to establish a School Fees Regulation Committee to determine how tuition fees are levied in unaided private schools has not been made.

The State Government’s repeated assurances, including in the courts, that it is taking appropriate steps have failed to materialize.

As for the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE), the board is running a more or less age-old show while its counterparts, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), are making a number of changes in line with with the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020).

The central boards have initiated new changes to prepare their students for the interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary undergraduate programs envisaged under NEP-2020.

According to a senior contract officer of Osmania University, the number of students qualifying for the National Eligibility Test (NET) under the Junior Research Fellowship after completing postgraduate studies in state universities remains low. Complicating matters is the fact that as of now, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has already started implementing the new eligibility norms. This allows students who have completed their bachelor’s degree to access JRF-NET to conduct research anywhere in the country. How to strengthen undergraduate majors, ensure research capital is built, and prepare students at public colleges and universities to compete at the national level seems to be no one’s business. Instead, right from the beginning, government universities are forced to set up coaching centers to prepare students for competitive exams.

The appointment of permanent university lecturers is a serious political decision that remains in limbo for years. Earlier, the state government had issued government orders and permission to appoint permanent teaching staff in state universities. However, “the catch was that everything was explained by the state government. However, nothing has happened since 2016,” laments an official of the JAC University Teachers.