Telangana govt calls for meet with parents, colleges on suicides

Hyderabad: Stung by the recent spate of suicides by students studying in corporate educational institutions, the Telangana government has decided to take measures to see that such unfortunate incidents do not recur.

After series of meetings with officials on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, who looks after education department, announced that the government would hold a meeting with parents and managements of corporate institutions on Tuesday.

The Deputy CM said that the meeting will focus on creating awareness among the parents and management on providing a stress-free environment for the students. The officials were asked to come up with guidelines to check the incidents of suicides and to ensure that a positive academic environment prevails in the educational institutions for the corporate schools to follow.

It is learnt that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who expressed serious concern over the suicides, sought a detailed report from the education department. Srihari said the recognition of institutions who do not follow the government's guidelines should be cancelled. He suggested that the corporate educational institutions and 'international schools' should have counselling centres to help the students.

The minister asked the officials to conduct surprise inspections of the colleges so as to ensure that they follow the norms stipulated by the government and take stringent actions against the erring institutions, including cancellation of affiliation.

The minister asked the officials to hold a meeting with the teachers of the corporate schools so as to figure out the ways and means to bring changes in the teaching methods to lessen the stress on the students.

Special Secretary Education Rajeev Ranjan Acharya, Director Kishan and Board of Intermediate Education Commissioner Ashok and other senior officials took part in the meeting.