HYDERABAD: The Telangana Private Degree and PG College Management Association (TPDPMA) on Monday officially called off its strike, which had been ongoing for the past 40 days.
This followed an assurance from the Chairman of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education, Prof V Balakista Reddy, that the funds for reimbursement of tuition fees (RTF) would be released immediately.
The chairman met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and raised the issue of pending RTF funds for the past few years, stating the precarious financial condition of degree and PG colleges in the state. Following this, the CM instructed concerned officials to take immediate steps to release the RTF funds within three days.
Prof Balakista Reddy said the CM appealed to college managements, building owners and teaching staff to co-operate in resuming normal academic operations.
Convinced by the assurance, TPDPMA announced that it would co-operate with all universities for the upcoming semester examinations scheduled to begin on 14 May.
Speaking to TNIE, Bojja Suryanarayana Reddy, secretary of TPDPMA, said, “We have been assured by the chairman that the pending RTF funds will be released immediately. We have decided to call off the strike and conduct the semester exams as per the schedule.”
It may be noted that over the past two months, private college owners staged a dharna and held rallies to protest the delay in fund release and boycotted semester exams, citing the mounting dues that made it difficult to run colleges.