VIJAYAWADA: Citing the high dropout rate of students in government Intermediate colleges due to poor infrastructure, the education department is formulating proposals for improving the same, as many continue to operate in dilapidated buildings. The State has 471 junior government colleges, in which around 1.6 lakh students have enrolled themselves for the academic year 2019-20. Of the total 471 colleges, nearly half of them operate in dilapidated structures. The move to improve infrastructure in a phased manner comes as the officials find it unfeasible to increase the strength of students or create additional classrooms.
Another issue at hand is the absence of administrative and teaching personnel. Only 290 colleges have regular principals, while the rest are being run by in-charge officials; there are only 1,500 regular lecturers across the State, while over 3700 junior lecturers are contractual.
Not just this, even posts of regional inspection officers, district vocational education officers and regional joint directors in many regions are lying vacant. This situation has been prevailing for a long time, with no recruitment drive or promotions. Demanding resolution to the above-said problems, employees of the government junior submitted a representation with 25 demands to the State HRD Minister Adimulapu Suresh in July. They are scheduled to meet the minister next week.
“The previous government which had assured to solve the issues failed to keep its word. Now, we have submitted our request to the HRD Minister, who has responded positively and promised to solve the issues as early as possible. Without regular faculty, principals, regional officers, it is quite hard to achieve good results in government-run colleges,” said V Ravi, General Secretary of AP Government Junior Lecturers Association. Apart from this, the officials are also working to reduce the dropout rate, which stands at 30 per cent by the end of every academic year, with the help of Amma Vodi.