HYDERABAD: Geography seems to be a neglected subject in colleges across Hyderabad, and all over Telangana. Apart from the Nizam College, Koti Women’s College and Aurora Degree College, none in the city offer the subject on graduate level. According to Degree Online Services, Telangana(DOST), only 16 colleges in the State offer Geography at graduate level —a total of 1,360 seats —and most of them are affiliated to the Osmania University. DOST conducts UG admissions for five other state universities but none of them offer even a single course in Geography.
The situation is worse at post graduate level. University College of Science in OU offers the only PG course in State in Geography (M.Sc. Geography) and one course in Geo-informatics; Telangana University in Nizamabad also offers a PG course in Geo-informatics. Remote sensing and Geographic Information System(GIS), which are included in the Geography course at undergraduate level , are being increasingly looked at as tools for a planned approach towards development, including by Telangana government which has set up a separate remote sensing department, Telangana State Remote Sensing Applications Centre(TRAC).
Moreover, Hyderabad is also home to some well known tech companies working in the field of Remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems(GIS). However, although Geography forms a base for these important applications, it is a surprise that the subject does not receive similar importance in academics in Hyderabad.
When contacted, Prof C Venugopal Rao, Head of the Geography department at Osmania University said, “Geography did not receive much attention from the earlier Andhra Pradesh governments and same is the case after formation of Telangana. None of the government degree colleges, whose academic affairs are managed by Commisionerate of Collegiate Education, offer courses in Geography. The situation is completely different in other states, especially in North India where Geography is an important subject at under graduate level. In other southern states as well the situation is much better.
For example, in Karnataka more than 130 degree colleges offer courses in Geography at UG level.” Prof Rao further said, “ Since the last 6-7 years, including 2017, Geography was chosen as optional subject by highest number of aspirants. This is one reason why some private colleges are evincing interest in offering Geography at UG level.” He further added, “As only a handful of colleges offer course in Geography at undergraduate level, most of the social studies teachers in Telangana schools have no academic qualification in Geography. Most of them are those who studied history in UG.”