Fifty percent of residential educational institutes for women, says Harish Rao

Telangana had become the first State in the country to have one doctor for every 1,000 people, which was a recommended parameter by the World Health Organisation.

Siddipet: Finance Minister T Harish Rao said the State government was setting up 50 percent of residential institutes exclusively for women to encourage them to pursue higher education.

Addressing the gathering after laying a foundation for the construction of the Women’s Degree College (Agriculture B.Sc) of the Social Welfare department at Thornala near Siddipet on Wednesday, the Minister said the residential college building would be constructed with a budget of Rs 48 crore, in a 1.5 lakh square feet carpet area to house a college, hostel, and labs.

---

Terming agriculture degree holders as doctors of crops, Rao said Siddipet already had a medical college, a veterinary college and now an agriculture college as well. Elaborating on how the State government was giving priority to the education sector post-2014, the Minister said the number of junior colleges had increased to 1,340 from 400. Residential schools were increased to 1,012 from 682 besides upgrading all of them up to intermediate. With this, the number of students studying in government schools increased to 7.5 lakh from 1.94 lakh post-Telangana creation, he said, adding that a Residential Degree College for BC Women would be opened in Siddipet within three days.

Telangana had become the first State in the country to have one doctor for every 1,000 people, which was a recommended parameter by the World Health Organisation. The State now had 40,000 doctors for a 4 crore population. This was possible as the government set up a number of colleges in the last nine years.

The Minister later inaugurated Badminton and Basketball Courts on the premises of the Government Degree College, Siddipet.