TSBIE’s bid to rein in Inter hostels falls flat

​Hyderabad: The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education’s (TSBIE) ambitious plan to regulate hostels attached to the private junior colleges in the State from the academic year 2018-19 has fallen flat.

Giving a rude shocker to the board, nearly 98 per cent of the colleges with attached hostels did not apply for permissions despite the last date to submit applications with late fee had ended on April 20.

According to sources, the colleges had requested the board to extend the date as it would take time to submit the certificates like trade licences, fire safety certificate, lease deed and the like asked by the board for granting permission. Considering the same, the board has given time till April 30 for the submission of applications.

However, out of 600 private unaided junior colleges, most of them are corporate colleges, only 30 colleges have so far submitted their applications till April 28. Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the board said, "It seems unlikely to expect that all the remaining colleges would submit applications for hostel permission within two days left for the last date extended by the board."

It may be mentioned here that the State government had brought the hostels attached to the corporate junior colleges in the State under the regulatory preview of the TSBIE.

This was done, following both the State government and the TSBIE had come under attack from various quarters alleging that they are siding with the corporate junior colleges and not taking action despite several incidents of students studying in these colleges ended their lives due to depression.

Following this, the State government had brought them under the regulatory control of the TSBIE as the hostels run by the private corporate colleges were not under the control of any entity.

Following this, the TSBIE had issued a notification asking the colleges to submit the application online for granting permissions to run hostels attached to their colleges, within the premises or independently outside of the premises of their colleges.

Subsequent to the notification, the Board had also issued guidelines specifying requirements like the extent of the area for dormitories, study rooms, sick room/ first aid room, kitchen, dining hall, store, recreation and library rooms.

Besides, it had also specified the number of bathrooms and toilets depending on the number of students staying in the hostel. Office area, counselling and guidance rooms, residence for person-in-charge of the hostel, playground, round-the-clock security were among those prescribed for granting permissions to run the hostels.

Besides, paying Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 towards the inspection and hostel permission fee, each college will have to submit caution deposit or fixed deposit receipt (FDR) ranging from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 16 lakh, depending on the number of students admitted in the hostel.

Managements of the colleges had earlier sought a relaxation of norms terming the rules notified were too harsh. But, the State government is yet to come to a decision on the same. It was against this backdrop that the colleges have decided not to submit applications and chose to decide their further course of action depending on the decision of the government or the board, the sources said.