HYDERABAD: Despite four rounds of counselling and another two special rounds, the number of vacant seats in private degree colleges this year is alarmingly high. Degree Online Services, Telangana (DOST) 2019 has found only 1.70 lakh takers, a drop of nearly 50,000 seats since the last couple of years.
Though the Commissioner of Collegiate Education and DOST convenor tried to push up the numbers by holding two special phases, private college managements are crying foul that if only they were allowed to hold spot admissions, the numbers would further jump. Over four lakh seats are on the offer by DOST for various undergraduate courses. College managements which have been demanding spot admission for the fourth consecutive year, have flayed the TSCHE and Collegiate Education for acting in an “autocratic fashion”.
“Instead of allowing spot admission the authorities changed the nomenclature and let the rules remain the same. Unlike spot admission in engineering where once the counselling ends, colleges are allowed to fill in the unfilled seats on their own with no involvement from the university or the State Council, in these two special phases, admission was done through DOST,” said Laxma Reddy, chairman, Association for Strengthening of Private Initiative in Rural Education (ASPIRE).
It has also been alleged that during the latest special round of counselling held between August 16-18, the server was down for an initial couple of days. “It is too less a time for the entire process. And we are unhappy that despite the poor show in DOST this time, the department is turning a blind eye to our problems. There are colleges which have very few admissions and it won’t be viable for these colleges to function,” said a principal of private degree college in the city.
College managements are still rooting for spot admissions and some even met B Janardhan Reddy, education secretary, asking for a week-long extension for special admission drive. G Nagaiah, president, Private Degree College Association, agreed that there was a need for spot admission particularly for BiPC students since Eamcet and NEET counselling is still ongoing. “Another 3,000-4000 students can be added if spot admission or even the date for the special drive is extended,” he said.