Krishnaiah demands govt to enact a legislation on fee regulation for junior colleges

In a five page letter to the Chief Minister on Tuesday, Krishnaiah highlighted the state of unregulated and arbitrary fees being collected by private colleges in the State.

Hyderabad: Accusing corporate junior colleges of collecting hefty fee from students, Rajya Sabha member and National BC Welfare Association president R Krishnaiah urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to immediately enact a legislation on fee regulation.

In a five page letter to the Chief Minister on Tuesday, Krishnaiah highlighted the state of unregulated and arbitrary fees being collected by private colleges in the State. Citing a few instances, he noted that colleges, based on location and popularity, were charging different fees at different branches.

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Only about 3.29 lakh students out of the 9.78 lakh Intermediate students in the State go to gurukulas and government colleges, and the rest get admissions in private colleges, he said, adding that over 70 percent of the students take admissions in private junior colleges and were charged exorbitant fees by the college managements. “Parents enquiring about admission fees are not allowed to carry mobile phones and the estimated fee is just scribbled on a paper,”he alleged.

Citing the example of neigbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Rajya Sabha member said the State government was strictly implementing fee regulation and taking action against colleges those who charge more than the prescribed fees. “AP government has decided the fees structure for three years for schools and colleges. Different fee structure has been made for village level institutions and municipal area institutions,” he said.

He demanded that the State government enact a law on fee regulation and implement it effectively, to cap the per annum fee at Rs. 1 lakh, and to categorise hostels into four based on available infrastructure, academic faculty, and fee structure.