Telangana polytechnic staff announces non-cooperation in duties over merger of polytechnics with YISU

Telangana polytechnic staff have escalated their protest against the proposed merger of polytechnics with Young India Skills University, announcing non-cooperation in additional duties. Students are also protesting the move and demanding clarity on ECET and lateral-entry engineering admissions.

Hyderabad: Upping the ante against the Telangana Congress government’s decision of merging polytechnics with the Young India Skills University (YISU) under the Shakti department, the Telangana Polytechnic Joint Action Committee (TP-JAC) escalated its protest to non-cooperation in duties from Saturday.

Except for regular academics and institutional duties, the polytechnic staff decided not to undertake any additional, special or other duties, including question paper setting, moderation and evaluation duties as the State government failed to provide satisfactory answers to the issues raised by them.

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According to TP-JAC office bearers, the government was clueless on the repercussions of merging polytechnics with the YISU until these were pointed out during initial meetings. “Without modalities or roadmap on bringing under the YISU, the government sought our issues. When we pointed them out, the Minister and officials gave an oral assurance but not in writing. Since the future of thousands of students is paramount to us, we have escalated the protest to non-cooperation level,” said M Nagaraju, Chairman TP-JAC.

Stating that non-cooperation would also extend to duties connected with the State Board of Technical Education and Training (SBTET), he said the protest would continue until their demands were met. “We are not asking for hikes or other benefits but to retain the polytechnics under the SBTET and all polytechnics be under the Education department only,” he said.

Pointing out issues with the merger, the polytechnic staff said the YISU was established under the public private partnership model that can frame its own syllabus and fix tuition fees. Industry partners are involved in curriculum development and the training will be limited to specific industry requirements, which may not equip students with the broader skills needed to find employment in other sectors.

Moreover, the university does not have AICTE approval to offer these diploma programmes, which will result in these diplomas not recognised for government or PSU job opportunities, the staff said.

Meanwhile, students continued their protests demanding the government revoke the GO MS No.97 and expressing concerns over the scrapping of the ECET that enables them to pursue undergraduate engineering education via lateral entry.

On Friday, protesting students demanded an assurance on the ECET and that investors would not back out of the university from Shakti Minister G Vivek Venkat Swamy who visited them at Government Polytechnic College Masab Tank. However, Vivek replied, “I might lose elections next time and our government might lose power. What benefit will you derive from my guarantee?”

The Minister’s response left the students and staff at the venue baffled. However, he later attempted to allay their apprehensions and said the decision would enable the department to provide Rs. 600 crore for upgrading polytechnics.