Some progress, some lacunae

Srikrishna Committee Report Education

There may be divergent views on the recommendations made by the Justice Srikrishna Committee on the Telangana issue. However, there seems to be near unanimity among all the sections, including those who propose and oppose the State division on one point: The Committee has done a commendable job in studying the related issues in detail.

While dwelling upon the various issues involved, the Srikrishna Committee has given priority to educational matters over irrigation, power, employment, etc. It may be because the student community has been in the forefront of the separatist movement. Here is a brief summary of what it said about education.

The report has clearly recognized the backwardness of Telangana in educational matters compared to Andhra and Rayalaseema. However, the situation is basically attributed to historical reasons. The Seemandhra region had been under the British administration for a long time during which educational opportunities were made available extensively and English teaching was prevalent. In contrast, the Telangana region was under the Nizams where the medium of instruction was Urdu. In any case, the report says, after the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 Telangana has been fast catching up. In fact, it is ahead of others in certain respects. At the same time, the committee has pointed out, this development is mainly concentrated in and around Hyderabad. In other areas of the region, education growth is not as much as that of Hyderabad.

For instance, literacy rate in the State in 2001 was 60%. The break-up was 58% for Telangana, 63% in Andhra and 60% in Rayalaseema. But, excluding Hyderabad city the literacy of Telangana was just 55%. Still, the point to be noted was that these gaps were wider earlier, which are narrowing down now.

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for higher education in Telangana. It is much more than in the other two regions. This is because of the ‘catching up process’ and increase in rural incomes. Reservations and the fee reimbursement scheme are aiding this process. Thus, despite the high drop-out levels, students in Telangana are going to high schools and colleges in increasing numbers. The number of high schools there has been soaring since 1971, ahead of Andhra and Seema regions. Similar is the position in the number of junior colleges.

The sore point was the number of SC hostels per lakh students in 2001 that had gone down compared to 1991 in Telangana. The numbers of students enrolled in them also was lower. The position is better in respect of ST students.
In case of tertiary education, considering the backwardness of Telangana, initially certain safeguards were provided in the Gentlemen’s Agreement. When it was violated there were more agreements which also were said to have been violated. Finally a Presidential Order was issued creating two kinds of universities and institutions with two different systems of reservations for the students of the three regions.

Telangana has been witnessing an “unprecedented” growth in this area since 1996 but it has been mostly concentrated in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, the reason being market forces. When the city is excluded Telangana continues to lag behind Andhra but is ahead of Seema. So, in future Government colleges may be located in backward regions.

Telangana quarters complain that the universities in the region are discriminated against in terms of per capita funding counting the number of students. But the committee felt that the method of such counting was faulty. As per official data, allocation to Telangana is the highest, followed by Andhra and Seema. However, as far as the number of Government colleges is concerned, Telangana is at the bottom.

The complaints that among the new universities the Yogi Vemana University of Kadapa was sanctioned more funds during 2006-09, compared to Telangana University (Nizamabad) and Mahatma Gandhi University (Nalgonda) were found to be true by the committee. Similarly, it is also true that private colleges of Seemandhra are granted more funds than the Telangana colleges. The committee has suggested that this anomaly needs to be rectified. The same is the case with the number of medical colleges. Keeping in view that Andhra with nine districts has five colleges and Seema with four districts four colleges, Telangana with 10 districts has only four colleges. It is not rational, the committee said. However, the complaint that location of non-medical colleges affects Telangana students is not valid, the report said.

As far as counting of pass marks at school level is concerned, the committee has found it to be “skewed.” As per the prevalent system, pass marks in English are 35 and 18 in Hindi (in which Telangana students are proficient). In overall percentage, English marks are taken into consideration but not of Hindi. The report said this should change.

Finally, the committee observed that the Osmania and Kakatiya universities have large numbers of students from poor and downtrodden sections, most of whom are first generation candidates. They have high aspirations but are frustrated not finding good opportunities. They are in the forefront of the movement and are also committing suicides. This situation may not be due to any discrimination but because of lack of proper training. Providing for that will have positive impact on them, the committee said.