Sri Chaitanya’s Narsingi campus barred from taking fresh admissions over student’s suicide

Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education has barred Sri Chaitanya Junior College, Narsingi campus from taking fresh admissions in the next academic year i.e., 2023-24

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TS BIE) on Monday has barred Sri Chaitanya Junior College, Narsingi campus from taking fresh admissions in the next academic year i.e., 2023-24. The move from TSBIE comes in the wake of suicide by N Sathwik, a first year intermediate student at Sri Chaitanya’s Narsingi campus due to alleged harassment by staff.

The decision was made clear to the college management in a meeting held between Education department officials and managements of corporate and private junior colleges in Hyderabad on Monday.

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“The Sri Chaitanya Junior College Narsingi campus has been barred from admitting fresh students in the next academic year. However, existing students will continue their second-year academics and this cannot be seen as disaffiliation,” a senior official, who was part of the meeting, said.

The managements of corporate and junior colleges have been strictly warned of action including criminal charges if the staff verbally or physically abuse students on any pretext.

With the Intermediate Public Examinations (IPE) commencing from March 15, the colleges have been directed to ensure proper mental health of students is maintained with a two pronged strategy including conducting recreational activities and ensuring students have a proper sleep cycle.

The managements have been instructed to identify suicidal tendency among students and counselling them by engaging psychologists. They have also been asked to follow the Board’s timing of 9 am to 5 pm for holding classes.

Another key take away from the meeting was constitution of a 10-member committee to formulate guidelines for curbing suicides and reduce stress among students. The committee, comprising of seven members from corporate and private colleges, and three TS BIE officials, will formulate guidelines for regulating misleading advertisements so as to attract students.

“Due to cut throat competition, a few corporate colleges tend to claim the same top one ranker, which is a clear case of misleading public. The colleges can advertise but they should not mislead. We will shortly come up with guidelines,” the senior official said.

All private and corporate college managements have also been directed to implement the biometric attendance system for teaching and non-teaching staff. They were also directed not to engage services of one teacher in multiple colleges or campuses.

Meanwhile, private junior college managements have urged the Board officials to introduce grading system in the intermediate on the lines of the SSC Public Examinations to curb competition. They also wanted sports and other recreational activities to be introduced in the colleges.