Former TSCHE chairman Prof Papi Reddy is not the lone voice to speak against Telangana Government

Hyderabad: Is the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) former chairman Prof T Papi Reddy the lone voice who has openly launched a tirade against the BRS in Telangana?

If goings on are an indication, Reddy, a two-times TSCHE chairman, is not one among many academicians in higher education sulking for quite a long time, but failing to express themselves.

The main reason for their distress with the government is that it has been neglecting education in general and higher education in particular since the State formation.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior professor from Osmania University said universities have been starving for funds to meet their requirements. In some cases, they had to meet their expenditure, on salaries too, from their internal funds as there has been an inordinate delay in the budget allocated funds they have to receive from the government under higher education. That apart, universities, like several other private and government colleges, have been waiting for release of fee reimbursement funds due from the government.

Coupled with financial constraints, lack of regular faculty adds to their varsities’ woes; hitting hard the research and standards directly. They impact the rankings and the reputation of universities, said another professor from the School of Social Sciences, Kakatiya University.

Prof Papi Reddy was actively engaged in electioneering of the ruling party during by-elections after demitting office. But, he had faced drubbing from his ilk with whom he had shared ranks in a separate Telangana movement. "His main complaint is delaying recruitments of university teaching faculty, and severe funds crunch to step up academic and research activities."

Several efforts have been made to bring in foreign university collaborations and a memorandum of understanding signed to step up students, faculty exchange and inter-university collaborations. But hardly any of them took off. The universities on their own can’t implement such MoUs as they need funds to execute them. The government shows no interest, resulting in all such efforts either not taking off or being dumped halfway through. There are also some non-academic and research works the universities have to cope with, like conducting coaching for competitive examinations. Things in State higher education are not in shape; they deteriorated from united AP, point out several teaching faculty members, particularly from OU and KU.

While Prof Haragopal was the first to mount a critical attack on the government's treatment toward higher education, Prof Papi Reddy is second to join; more voices are to join them, say members of university teaching faculty.