HYDERABAD: Union Minister of Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy on Friday criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for allegedly referring to engineering students as “criminal waste,” calling the remark irresponsible and unbecoming of a leader holding high office in the state.
In a statement, he said the chief minister should have initiated a healthy and constructive debate on improving the quality of engineering education instead of using derogatory language against students. He alleged that Revanth had attempted to use terminology learnt during a weekend programme at Harvard University without realising that such remarks insulted the aspirations of the Gen-Z generation.
Questioning the government’s record in the education sector, Kishan asked what reforms had been undertaken during Revanth’s two-and-a-half years as both chief minister and education minister.
The Union minister alleged that the chief minister’s remarks stemmed from frustration over persistent demands from engineering students for the release of pending fee reimbursement dues.
Govt owes Rs 10,000 crore in fee reimbursement arrears
He claimed that the state government owed around Rs 10,000 crore in fee reimbursement arrears, of which more than Rs 5,000 crore was payable to engineering students.
He accused Revanth of warning engineering colleges against protesting for fee reimbursement arrears and ordering vigilance inquiries against educational institutions demanding the release of pending funds. Alleging that the government had failed to fulfil its election promise of allocating 15% of the state budget to education, the Union minister said it was contradictory for the Congress government to claim that it represented the aspirations of Gen-Z while allegedly insulting the same generation through such comments.
Kishan said that former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao had expressed concern over the standards of engineering graduates and described their education as monsoon studies on the floor of the Assembly in 2015.
He alleged that despite remaining in power for nearly a decade, KCR failed to implement meaningful reforms in engineering education. He said that after nearly 12 years under successive governments led by KCR and Revanth, Telangana’s education system had witnessed little improvement.
Kishan said Hyderabad’s emergence as a global IT hub was made possible by the talent of Telangana engineering students with many of them holding senior positions in IT, construction and mechanical engineering companies at global level.