HYDERABAD: The
Telangana government that made Telugu compulsory up to Class 10 from this academic year, has now, ironically, decided to discontinue admissions to degree courses in Telugu medium beginning 2018-19. According to the new rule, barring one or two
colleges, no other government institute in the city will admit students in
Telugu medium courses from this year, said sources.
“We don’t understand what the government is thinking. On the one hand, it has made Telugu compulsory in
schools and on the other hand, it is trying to gradually phase it out from colleges. It should decide whether it wants to promote the language or not and implement rules accordingly,” said G Nagaiah, president, Telangana Private Degree Colleges Association.
Particularly hit, college managements said, will be students who migrate to the city from rural areas to pursue degree courses. “Most of these students prefer to join Telugu medium as they are comfortable with the language. This only goes on to show that there is still demand for Telugu medium in colleges. But even it is otherwise, the government must promote the medium and not eradicate it completely,” Nagaiah said.
Officials maintained, the decision was taken keeping students’ interest in mind. “It is true that we are rationalising degree courses. As a result, some seats may decrease in a course/medium and some might get added to others. Overall, the number of seats in government colleges will increase and students will get more options and combinations to choose from,” said R Limbadri, convenor, Degree Online Services, Telangana (DOST) stressing that the decision to reduce seats in a course or medium was taken based on demand. The convenor added that the exact situation will be known only after the release of DOST notification.
Representative image