Telangana BJP has hailed the agitation taken up by the students of IIIT-Basara, which it said, has forced an “adamant” government to concede their demands including appointment of a full-fledged vice chancellor, improving infrastructure and recruiting faculty on Tuesday.
Party spokesperson Rani Rudramadevi, in a media conference, congratulated the students on their relentless efforts and observed that it reminded one of the students’ role in struggle for separate state of Telangana movement to ensure the future generations get better opportunities.
But, as things stand now the education sector is worse off when compared to the scenario in the united Andhra Pradesh as it has been under total neglect and apathy under the TRS government for the last eight years. For example, Osmania University had 1,200 professors for 4,000 students in 80s whereas now it has 400 permanent staff of 20,000 students, 800 contract and 500 outsourced staff, she claimed.
“The situation is similar in all other universities and due to lack of teaching staff and basic amenities of proper infrastructure like hostels and mess. Most of the courses are being shut down. What is the future of students without proper teaching staff and other facilities,” she questioned.
While the public unversities are facing the funds and faculty crunch, private universities launched by the TRS leaders are being allowed to flourish with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao “not conducting any review meeting on higher education”, the spokesperson added.
‘Vicious campaign’
In a separate statement, senior leader Gudur Narayana Reddy urged the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Congress not to “poison the minds of the youngsters about Agnipath programme of the Centre” with their vicious campaign. “Both parties are losing ground in Telangana and they have chosen the Agnipath programme to downgrade popularity of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi but their evil designs will not work,” he said.
Agnipath programme has been visualized not only to strengthen the armed forces but also to prepare the youth for nation building. The age between 16 to 20 years is a critical one in the life of any person and there is a danger of straying into anti social activities and unhealthy life styles which is now witnessed in Telangana. There is an urgent need to put the youngsters on a right path and Agnipath would help immensely in this direction, he added.
