Jeevan Reddy demands withdrawal of GO 9 over fee reimbursement row

BRS general secretary T Jeevan Reddy demanded the withdrawal of GO Ms No. 9, alleging that it was weakening the fee reimbursement scheme and causing hardship to students, while accusing the Congress government of failing to release pending dues to colleges.

Hyderabad: BRS general secretary and former Minister T Jeevan Reddy demanded that the State government withdraw GO Ms No. 9, alleging that it was undermining the fee reimbursement scheme and pushing students into financial distress. He accused the Congress government of introducing GO 9 without clearing pending payments of Rs 10,000 crore to colleges.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Friday, Jeevan Reddy said students were struggling to secure admissions as private colleges were insisting on fee payments in the absence of reimbursements from the government. He said the State government had failed to protect students despite promising to strengthen the education sector.

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He stated that the previous BRS government continued the fee reimbursement scheme introduced during the YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He said that although Rs 6,000 crore had been earmarked in the State budget for fee reimbursement, the funds had not been released.

The former Minister also criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who also holds the Education portfolio, for weakening the public education sector. He said Revanth Reddy had established no new residential schools in the past 30 months and had instead repainted and rebranded the existing government welfare residential schools as the Young India Integrated Residential Schools.