Corporate junior colleges law unto themselves

Hyderabad: Do you know how much the parents of first and second year intermediate courses have to pay as fees in unaided private junior colleges or what are otherwise known as popular corporate colleges? It is Rs 1,920 and Rs 1,740, respectively. Not only that, it is also understood that only less than 10 percent of these colleges had submitted their annual audit reports.

According to a Telangana State Board of Intermediate (TSBIE) official, the colleges had asked the board to enhance the fees. But the TSBIE asked them to first submit audit reports but many had not complied with their direction. This had put the issue of hike in fees in cold storage by the board. The above fees are fixed more than a decade ago. "To the best of my recollection, there is also a litigation pending for years," said an official of the board from Warangal.

The present situation is that the corporate colleges have been collecting anywhere from Rs 26,000 to Rs 2 lakh per year for the first intermediate and a similar sum for the second intermediate course.

The colleges have been collecting the fee under the disguise of providing facilities like imparting coaching for Engineering and Medical Entrance, JEE, providing air-conditioned classrooms and the like. "Since parents are paying whatever fee is charged, neither the TSBIE nor the State government has taken any action to prevent fleecing of parents by institutions like Narayana or Chaitanya and other such prominent educational institutions.

Speaking to The Hans India, a District Intermediate Education Officer (DIEO) said, "They have become so powerful and they deal directly with the higher ups in the board leaving hardly any scope for other officials to initiate any action." He said, there are several reports on how the corporate junior residential colleges subject the students to about 10 to 15 hours of grinding on daily basis in the name of coaching for competitive exams. The students must cover both the syllabi of the board examinations as well as the entrance tests. Some cope and others discontinue and those who are sensitive resort to extreme steps. The TSBIE only collects the affiliation fee and verifies the infrastructural facilities and the number of teachers working while giving affiliation. Beyond that, it does not interfere and does not bother about fee structure. Repeated efforts were made to reach out to seek clarification on the issue from the Secretary and Commissioner, TSBIE, Syed Omer Jaleel, but, went in vain.