Fill up vacant teaching posts in varsities, CM tells officials

‘Action should be taken against colleges for not adhering to norms related to faculty, infrastructure’

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the officials of the Higher Education Department to initiate measures for filling all the teaching staff vacancies in universities with well-qualified individuals to ensure that the quality of education in the State undergoes an improvement.

In a high-level review meeting on higher education conducted on Monday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy ordered officials that the appointments be made in a fully transparent manner, and the necessary changes be introduced in the curriculum at the earliest.

“Priority should be given to providing high-speed Internet facilities to colleges to better equip the students with the required technical skills. Action should be taken against the colleges that are not adhering to norms related to faculty and infrastructure. Licence should not be given to non-compliant institutions at the initial stage itself,” said the Chief Minister.

Officials informed Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy that 1,10,779 students had opted for laptops under the ‘Jagananna Vasathi Deevena’ scheme and that those were in the process of being distributed.

The Chief Minister called upon the Vice-Chancellors of the universities to recommend ways and measures to ensure effective functioning of the ward and village secretariats, village clinics, departments of registration and town and country planning and etc. He also suggested that the universities should collaborate with technology giants such as Microsoft to achieve better outcomes in training, research and development, and introducing more job-oriented courses for the students to equip them with real-world skills.

Bilingual textbooks

Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy further said bilingual textbooks be brought out to enable the students to have a proper grasp of subjects in both English and Telugu languages.

He said the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) should be increased to 70% by 2025 and expressed confidence that it would be possible with the implementation of schemes such as ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’ and ‘Jagananna Vasathi Deevena’ schemes.

The Chief Minister also instructed the State Council of Higher Education to hold regular parleys with the Vice-Chancellors for improving the overall performance of universities in the next three years and that the exercise should include individual interactions with the Vice-Chancellors.

NAAC recognition

“All universities should obtain NAAC recognition,” he said and ordered that basic English be made a compulsory subject to improve the language and communication skills of students.

Education Minister A. Suresh, Special Chief Secretary (higher education) Satish Chandra, APSCHE Chairman K. Hema Chandra Reddy, Commissioner of Collegiate Education Pola Bhaskar and others were present in the meeting.

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