Congress government plans to shift JNAFAU to BRAOU campus

The government is said to be considering allotment of 10 acres of land in open university to the JNAFAU.

Hyderabad: The Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) is likely to get a new address in the city.

The State government is learnt to be planning to shift the JNAFAU to the Dr. BR Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU) campus in Jubilee Hills.

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For this, the government is said to be considering allotment of 10 acres of land in open university to the JNAFAU. A final decision is expected after the State cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday.

It is learnt that the government might allot the present JNAFAU campus to the Telangana Education Commission, which has recently been established with Akunuri Murali as its chairman.

Initially, the Education department planned to allot former education minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy’s office in SCERT campus here to the Education Commission. However, the proposal was shelved as the government allotted the former education minister’s office to Government advisor AP Jitender Reddy.

The BRAOU was initially known as the Andhra Pradesh Open University, which was first of its kind in the country, when it was established in 53.63 acres in 1982. However, the open university got its present name in 1991. While a part of open university’s land was encroached upon in the past, some land was allotted to institutions like the T-SAT and We-Hub besides some land for the SRDP.

The proposal of shifting the JNAFAU campus to BRAOU campus did not go down well with the open university employees who vehemently opposed the proposal, which according to the staff, was aimed at weakening the university that has been providing higher education to economically poor and rural students.

The teachers, non-teaching employees and technical staff of the varsity have strongly criticized the government’s action.

They contended that since admissions were shooting up, the university requires enough space for holding classes, examinations and practical sessions on the campus.

The university employees decided to submit a representation to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Principal Secretary to Government (Education) Burra Venkatesham on Thursday opposing the government’s proposal.