Telangana: Thousands Of College Students Suffer As State Govt Yet To Clear Fee Reimbursement Dues

Rajeshwar Reddy, a second-year engineering student in Telangana, is in an ongoing tussle with the college authorities over releasing original mark sheets and certificates. A beneficiary of Telangana’s Fee Reimbursement programme, Reddy is now in a state of fix as his college administration has refused to hand over the school mark sheets unless scholarship fees have been cleared.

Telangana students suffer as Government yet to release funds

Sadly, Reddy isn’t the only one in this battle as a large number of students from degree colleges, PG colleges, junior and engineering colleges in Telangana are still waiting for fee reimbursements amounting to Rs 1,215 crores for the academic year, 2016-17 and 2017-18, reported Deccan Chronicle.

Telangana government’s delay in clearing the dues might cost students their careers as many colleges are reluctant to return the original mark sheets and certificates that are often needed to pursue higher education.

J Dileep, Hyderabad City Secretary ABVP, while talking to The Logical Indian said that some students from the batch of 2014-15 are yet to receive their reimbursement fees. He also mentioned that a large number of colleges in the state depends on scholarships and fee reimbursement, and this constant delay from the government’s end has been causing trouble for the student community. “Almost Rs 2000 crore is pending for all the colleges in the state,” claimed Dileep.

College staff unwilling to work

According to Deccan Chronicle, Goutam Rao, President of Telangana engineering college management association, highlighted the plight of the college staff. He said, “About 900 crore fee reimbursements are pending with the government, affecting students and management. The students have completed their degrees, and we have kept their degrees on hold because we don’t know when we will receive the funds from the government. We are unable to pay salaries to college staff as since the last three months the government has not released even a single rupee”.

What is the Fee Reimbursement programme?

The Andhra Pradesh government introduced the Fee Reimbursement programme in 2008 aimed at supporting students get a quality education from economically weaker sections of the society. Reimbursement, irrespective of the college fee amount for Open Category and Backward Category candidates is capped at Rs 35,000. The rest of the amount is to be borne by the students themselves.

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the year 2014, thousands of students from AP suffered as the states deliberated as to who would clear the reimbursement fee.

The Logical Indian Take

This isn’t the first time that the Telangana government has shown laxity in releasing the fee reimbursement amount and for that, the students might have to end up paying a hefty price. This was a scheme introduced by the government to help genuine students in need and it should focus on improving the quality of education instead of making moves that hamper their future.