State universities are ignored, what’s the need for private: Osmania University

HYDERABAD: Telangana government has pushed for Private Universities Bill in Assembly but has done nothing concrete towards development of Osmania University (OU), which will complete its centenary celebrations next month. OU caters to 19,000 students from across the State through its 720 affiliated colleges with 3.2 lakh students studying in them.

Though Rs 309 crore has been allocated to OU during the State budget, the university officials claimed that the amount would be barely enough to pay the salaries of the employees. A university official said, “This has been the case every year. Any infrastructure development that takes place in the university is through Union government funds which we got through University with the help of Potential for Excellence and Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan schemes.”

Staff crunch continues

Even after four years of formation of State, the biggest issue—lack of teachers—that plagues OU has not been resolved yet. While the government has been talking about the recruitment and has issued a GO in this regard in January, the process has not picked up yet. Of the 1,267 sanctioned teaching positions, 741 were vacant as on June 2016, as per Self Study Report(SSR) submitted to National Assessment and Accreditation Council(NAAC) by OU. Since then, almost 100 professors have retired.

As per officials, the university is in dire need of around six new hostels to accommodate around 7,000 students. However, since the state formation, not a single hostel has been sanctioned. As part of centenary year, state government sanctioned `200 crore, of which it released only `50 crore. From this money, the university was supposed to construct two new hostels. With the centenary year coming to an end next month, the university is now scurrying.

OU Registrar, Prof Ch Gopal Reddy, said that the foundation stones for the hostels will be laid in next two weeks. When asked whether the money granted last year would not lapse as financial year would end in two days, he said that it would not be a problem.

OU Teachers’ Association president Prof Battu Satyanarayana said, “No development has taken place in the university since formation of Telangana. Many buildings in the university and its constituent colleges are in a dilapidated condition. Some departments are set to lose central funding due to lack of faculty. Moreover, private universities are going to benefit only children from well-to-do families whereas OU benefits those from varied socio-economic backgrounds.”

Changes OU saw in last 4 years

• Inauguration of about four new hostels which were sanctioned before State formation
• Data centre established at Central Facilities For Research and Development(CFRD)
• Establishment of a surveillance centre for 200 CCTVs installed on campus