Higher Education-Collegiate Education-Policy for takeover of willing Private Aided
Degree Colleges including Minority Degree Colleges by the Government- Orders –
Issued.
G.O.Ms.No.42 Dated:10.08.2021
ORDER:
Decades ago when the concept of providing Grant-in-Aid by the Government
to Private Educational Institutions was initiated, it was envisioned to improve
overall educational infrastructure. Over the years, the Education sector has
changed drastically. Especially in the recent past, the State Government has put in
massive efforts for strengthening educational infrastructure particularly with the
launching of programmes/schemes such as Nadu-Nedu, Jagananna Vidya
Deevena, Jagananna Vasathi Deevena etc. Owing to all such schemes and
establishment of more number of Government Institutions, the educational
infrastructure especially in the Government sector has improved significantly.
Further, there has been an increased participation of the Private Institutions in the
Education Sector in the recent past providing greater opportunities for accessing
education. However, despite extending majority of the Government schemes such
as Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Jagananna Vasathi Deevena etc., to the students
studying in aided institutions on par with Government Institutions, there has been
a steady decline in the student enrollment into private aided educational
institutions. Additionally, it has been brought to the notice of the Government that
few aided educational institutions could not run the courses because of very low
enrollments and high operational expenses. This testifies that in these changed
circumstances, the Private Aided Educational Institutions in the State seem to
have lost their relevance and vitality as most of them are lagging behind the
Government and Private Unaided Educational Institutions in terms of performance
and quality resources. Thus, the Government felt that the present policy of
extending grant-in-aid to the Private Educational Institutions needs a detail review
and course corrections.
2. The Government has also noticed that, in aided educational institutions, the
percentage of admission in aided courses is gradually decreasing year on year
while there has been significant improvement in student enrollment and standards
in the Government Institutions. Also, filling aided staff vacancies in such aided
institutions and possible demands of unaided staff, who are selected without any
transparent method of recruitment i.e., without a sanctioned vacant post and/or
without a competitive selection process similar to that of recruitment of
Government Staff through appropriate Selection Committee, for regularization into
aided posts lead to huge financial burden on Government’s exchequer. Further,
such regularization is illegal as per Apex Court Judgements in Umadevi and
Manjula Bhashini cases and Andhra Pradesh Act 2 of 1994 (Regulation of
Appointment to Public Services and Rationalization of Staff Pattern and Pay
Structure). Additionally, it has been brought to the notice of the Government that
few aided educational institutions could not run the courses because of very low
enrollments and high operational expenses. Further, w.r.t. Higher Education, it has been observed that the student strength in the regular aided courses is far too less
when compared to the self-financed market-oriented unaided courses offered by
the same institution. This indicates that there is a heavy under utilization of the
available aided resources in the institutions while directly or indirectly poaching
the students into unaided courses. Furthermore, there is no need to stress any
further on effectively utilizing all the available resources in the educational
institutions to achieve the objectives of the schemes namely “Jagananna Vidya
Deevena” and “Jagananna Vasathi Deevena” for free education and “Nadu-Nedu”
for strengthening educational infrastructure. Also, wherever necessary, it is
important to provide autonomy and opportunity to self-sustain for private aided
institutions on par with private unaided institutions on the lines of National
Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that highlights the need for providing graded
autonomy to institutions. Thus, it is a matter of public interest to take over the
voluntarily willing private aided educational institutions.
3. To inquire further into the matter before taking a policy decision, the
Government constituted a Committee vide G.O.Rt.No.52, Higher Education (C.E.)
Dept., dated.06.04.2021 to study the performance of Private Aided Educational
Institutions right from Schools including Minority institutions in the State.
Accordingly, the Committee has submitted a report recommending that there is no
necessity to extend grant-in-aid any further to the Private Educational Institutions
in the State.
4. After careful examination of the report of the Committee, the Government
hereby orders the following in respect of policy for takeover of willing Private Aided
Degree Colleges including Minority Degree Colleges in the State without any
financial burden on the exchequer in the following manner:
ఏపీ: ప్రభుత్వ పరిధిలోకి ఎయిడెడ్, మైనార్టీ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలు
విద్యార్థుల చేరికల్లేక.. మరోవైపు ప్రమాణాలు పడిపోతున్న ప్రైవేటు ఎయిడెడ్ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలు, మైనార్టీ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలకు ఇక మహర్దశ పట్టనుంది. వీటిని తన పరిధిలోకి తీసుకుని అత్యున్నత ప్రమాణాలు నెలకొల్పాలని ప్రభుత్వం నిర్ణయించింది. ఈ మేరకు మంగళవారం రాత్రి ఉన్నత విద్యా శాఖ ఉత్తర్వులు జారీ చేసింది. జగనన్న విద్యా దీవెన, జగనన్న వసతి దీవెన పథకాల కింద విద్యార్థులకు ఫీజులను పూర్తిగా రీయింబర్స్‌ చేయడంతోపాటు వారి వసతి, భోజనాల కోసం ఏటా రూ.20 వేల వరకు అందిస్తోంది. ప్రభుత్వ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలతోపాటు ఎయిడెడ్ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలకూ వీటిని వర్తింపచేస్తోంది.
ఎయిడెడ్ కాలేజీల్లోని రెగ్యులర్‌ సిబ్బందికి జీతభత్యాలు, ఇతర సదుపాయాల కోసం నిధులు విడుదల చేస్తోంది. అయినా చేరికలు, ప్రమాణాలూ పడిపోతుండటంతో ప్రభుత్వం ఈ నిర్ణయం తీసుకుంది. ఎటువంటి రుణభారం లేకుండా ప్రభుత్వానికి స్వచ్ఛందంగా ప్రైవేటు ఎయిడెడ్ డిగ్రీ కాలేజీలను స్వాధీనం చేయడానికి సుముఖంగా ఉండే యాజమాన్యాలు, సిబ్బంది నుంచి దరఖాస్తులు స్వీకరించాలని కాలేజీ విద్య కమిషనర్‌ను ఆదేశించింది.
