Private Colleges on Warpath, Say No to EAMCET

Irked by govt’s decision to conduct raids on private institutions, JAC refuses to offer centres to conduct exams.

HYDERABAD: With the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of educational institutions deciding to refuse permission to conduct Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET), the Telangana government and Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) might have to make some alternative arrangements.

Irked by the decision of the State government to conduct raids on private institutions, the JAC, formed by Intermediate, degree and professional colleges, here on Tuesday decided to boycott all exams and withdrew permission to use their institutions as exam centres for Polytechnic, Constable Exam, and EAMCET.

On day 2 of the indefinite strike, the JAC made it clear that unless the Chief Minister assures to withdraw the proposal of sending police teams to conduct inspections on educational institutions, they would not participate in spot valuation at degree colleges or conduct semester exams for the Engineering students.

Speaking to Express, Dr. K Ramdass, co-convener of JAC, made it clear that no private institution will lend its space to the government to conduct entrance exams.

"On April 21, over one lakh students are expected to write the Polycet exam. Of the 288 exam centres, 209 belong to private colleges and we are not going to lend our space to the government. If the government does not wake up and withdraw the decision to conduct inspections sending vigilance teams, even constable, Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), and  EAMCET exams will face the same fate," he stated.

Notifying the same, the JAC submitted a memorandum to TSCHE chairman T Papi Reddy and unequivocally stated that unless the government withdraws its decision to conduct inspections, the colleges will remain closed thus affecting the conduct of all the examinations.

Reacting to the threat, Papi Reddy said that alternative arrangements will be made to conduct the examinations. "There is ample time for us to make alternative arrangements for EAMCET examinations, there is no way that exams will be halted because of this indefinite strike," he assured.

When asked how they can make alternative arrangements when a majority of the colleges in the state are private, he said that government schools will be used. "If required, we will use government schools and other buildings. We have Plan A, B and C and exams will go on as per schedule."

The JAC leaders, including Gautam Rao representing engineering colleges, S Prabhakar Reddy representing B.Ed colleges, Parameshwar Reddy and Ramana Reddy from degree colleges and K Ramdass of pharmacy colleges said that inspection of educational institutions by the police will lead nowhere.

"How can non-academic people enter the campus and conduct raids? They will not understand the dynamics of an educational institution and will end up harassing the managements and the staff. No good will happen from these inspections and they will only lead to harassment as experienced by a few colleges in Khammam recently," Ramdass added.

As many as 6,800 institutions participated in the indefinite strike call given by the JAC leading to the cancellation of internal exams of JNTU and Kakatiya universities. The JAC also said that it has decided to boycott spot valuation centres in six universities of Telangana.

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