Government has paid no heed to rising number of suicides among students: G Kishan Reddy

HYDERABAD: Questioning the TRS government for not taking action on the violations by corporate colleges in the state BJP senior leader G Kishan Reddy on Friday stated that the government had paid no heed despite the rising number of suicides among students from these colleges.Pointing to a report released by a committee set up by the state government in 2015, which he claimed was not made public, the BJP leader asked why none of the recommendations are being implemented, when the situation is only getting worse.

He recalled that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had made many promises before coming to power and was concerned about the lives of lakhs of students studying in corporate colleges. “However, today, where more number of students are ending lives, he shows no concern,” he said. The education department had constituted a vigilance committee on October 30, 2015 to look into the irregularities of these corporate colleges after which the committee gave a detailed report with a set of recommendations.

To begin with, he said, these institutions -Narayana and Sri Chaitanya - have been registered as not-for profits under 80 G of the Income Tax Act, but continue to charge high amounts as fees, forcing some of the parents to sell their belongings. Under this provision, they are also enjoying tax exemption like charitable trusts. Besides, this they are also violating a number of other instructions given by the Board of Intermediate Education, he pointed out. 

“They are over capacitated as they are taking classes with more than the prescribed number of sections and each section also has students beyond capacity. Besides this, the report also revealed that there are no proper washrooms for the students,” said Kishan Reddy. There are no fire safety mechanisms in place in the crammed spaces, he added. Some of the buildings do not have occupancy certificates, while some registered in one building are functioning in a different space while hostels are merged with classrooms, which is also a violation. Demanding that necessary action should be taken, Kishan Reddy said that he will discuss the matter in the Assembly. 

“The government should take the recommendation of the report into consideration. The Board of Intermediate Education should constitute committees with the parents, listen to their grievances and address them. These colleges do not have reservation for students coming from backward classes and that too should be initiated,” he said.

A long term monitoring committee to look into the irregularities should be set up and ensure that they follow the rules of Board, he added. All that the Board did till date was to give them a penalty but nothing further has been done and they should immediately take necessary action.
When he was questioned about why political leaders give recommendation letters when parents come seeking help, Kishan Reddy said that individual cases are taken into consideration and those who need some financial waiver, are provided help.