Bad teachers, no lab: KUCET students stir up tweet-storm

Students of Kakatiya university college of engineering and technology (KUCET) have been boycotting classes and staging dharna for four days now, protesting inadequate infrastructure and shortage of faculty members

KUCET attracts thousands of engineering students every year. However, students at the institute set up in 2009 complain that basic infrastructure such as labs, equipment, devices, Wi-fi facility and placement cell are missing in KUCET and this has affected their academics. “Being a university student, it’s a shame to go to other nearby colleges to complete our lab work,” said Saiteja Vojjala, a student at KUCET. First year students claimed that during orientation, they were told about state-of-the-art labs among other amenities. However, once they joined, they realised the promises were far from truth.


Students also raised concerns over shortage of faculty members. In a letter addressing chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, KUCET students even claimed that members of the faculty were incompetent. “We have 54 members in the faculty. All of them are contract-based and have got through recommendations from political leaders, influential people or some other means. They are not even qualified for teaching. They give improper guidance, are impatient, have no knowledge of the subject but are good at holding grudges,” read the letter collectively by the students.

When four days of dharna failed to yield any result, KUCET students stormed the social media on Sunday seeking justice. With a hashtag of ‘save_kucet’, students approached TRS working president KT Rama Rao, through Twitter. “It is very sad to say that KUCET is a top government engineering campus after OUCET and JNTU in Telangana. But it does not have basic facilities as compared to Gurukulams and social welfare schools and colleges in Telangana,” tweeted Sandeep Salla.

Following tweets from the students, KTR responded on Saturday : “Assure you guys that I will take your issue to the notice of education minister Jagdish Reddy garu and KU VC garu.”

Taking cognizance of the students protest, the authorities decided to constitute a committee to look into students demands. “The KUCET is relatively new and is being developed at par with other university colleges. In the last two years, we’ve spent Rs 6.50 crore on lab and building development. More development is in the pipeline,” said Prof R Sayanna, KU vice-chancellor. The KU VC cited a Supreme Court order which stalled the appointment of academic staff following a petition over implementation of the government’s reservation policy. “In the recent past, we have recruited 26 members. While we have to recruit more faculty members, we are unable to do so owing to the SC order,” said Prof Sayanna.