Junior lecturers criticise TEC’s recommendation to integrate government inter colleges with TPS

TEC’s recent recommendation to integrate government-run junior colleges with the proposed Telangana Public Schools (TPS) has sparked criticism from the junior lecturers, who called the move detrimental to intermediate education in the State

Hyderabad: The Telangana Education Commission’s (TEC) recent recommendation to integrate government-run junior colleges with the proposed Telangana Public Schools (TPS) has sparked criticism from the junior lecturers, who called the move detrimental to intermediate education in the State.

In its recommendation to the State government, the TEC wanted integration of the junior college into the TPS if the college was located in the same village or locality as the school.

This, according to the Commission, will facilitate the Class X students to continue their intermediate education without opting for a transfer certificate. The Commission is also of the view that such integration will reduce the possibility of dropouts after Class X.

This TEC’s recommendation did not go down well with the government junior lecturers, who said such integration will erode the identity of the government-run junior colleges and also burden the faculty with additional responsibilities.

Telangana Government Junior Lecturers Association president P Madhusudan Reddy said the association strongly disagrees with the recommendations.

“The move will be detrimental to the government junior colleges, and they will go back to the system that dates back to the 1960s, where there was no intermediate education system. One of the main reasons for Telugu students bagging a large number of seats in the IITs is the intermediate education system in the State. If the college is integrated into the school, students will move to corporate junior colleges,” Reddy said.

The issue sprang up after the TEC submitted its recommendations asking the State government to set up three TPSs in each mandal by upgrading existing selected high schools. A TPS with a strength of 1,500 to 1,800 students will cater to students from nursery to Class XII.

Apart from arresting dropout among students, the Commission said integration will aid high school and intermediate students to use the same common resources like laboratories, games, sports facilities, and dining hall, etc.

“The semi-integration will lead to a lot of issues, including monitoring, as both have different monitoring systems. The government must either continue the existing intermediate education system or integrate all the junior colleges with the TPS,” said M Jangaiah, president Telangana Intermediate Government Junior Lecturers Association.