Taking the first step towards providing free education from KG to PG, the State government on Wednesday waived all kinds of fee for intermediate students studying in government junior colleges and also announced that textbooks will be supplied to them free of cost.
The twin decisions come into effect from this academic year itself. Announcing this at a press conference here, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari, who also holds the education portfolio, said, “There will no registration or application fee either. Intermediate education in the 402 government colleges in the State will be free.”
The fee waiver benefits around 1.30 lakh intermediate students in the State. According to official estimates, this translates into an additional financial burden of Rs 9 crore per year on the State exchequer. “Currently, a science student pays Rs 893 and an arts student Rs 533 to the Board of Intermediate in the form of various fee every year,” the minister informed.
To a query, he replied that the government would incur an additional expenditure of Rs 7 crore for supplying textbooks free of cost. The textbooks will be distributed by July 31.
The minister also said all the 402 government junior colleges in the State will have pucca buildings by the next academic year. “The government is aiming at making Telangana Intermediate education the best in the country. Within two-three years, all government junior colleges will get the best of infrastructure,” he added.
In another major announcement, the minister said the services of all the 25,000 lecturers working in government junior colleges would be regularised at the earliest, and promised to take up a recruitment drive to fill vacancies in junior colleges.
No need to run for certificates anymore
The Telangana Inter Board on Wednesday launched an online system for the benefit of students. As many as 15 student-centric services and nine services for college managements would be made available on www.tsbie.cgg.gov.in. You can get any of these certificates, Eligibility Certificate, Equivalency Certificate, Migration Certificate, Duplicate Marks Memo, True Extract of Marks, Duplicate Pass Certificate and others, at any Mee Seva Centre
Source: The New Indian Express