Expressing serious concern over the education system in the event of bifurcation of the State, the Krishna District Student JAC Convenor Devineni Avinash said the students of Andhra region will be at the receiving end if the State was to be split.
Addressing over 2,000 students of Kakaraparti Bhavanarayana (KBN) College, at the college grounds, as part of the gate meeting concept that he kick-started here on Monday, he pointed out that students who wished to study in the Central University in Hyderabad will be the worst hit.
Elaborating on the issue, he said “Right now as per the norms 85 per cent of the seats in the university were reserved for students from AP and the remaining 15 per cent was allotted to students from other States. If the state was to be bifurcated, the students from Seemandhra region will have to compete with students from the other States for the 15 per cent quota. We become outsiders in our very own State,” he added.
The young leader was of the opinion that people from Andhra region never objected to the government setting up almost all the top institutes such as NALSAR, IIT, IIIT and CU in and around Hyderabad as they felt that Hyderabad was part of their own State. “And now that appears to have become the bane,” he alleged.
Appreciating the students for their spontaneous response to the Samaikyandhra agitation, he said that the agitation would not have come this far but for the support from the young minds and aggressive response from the APNGOs. But at the same time he was fast to admit that it may not be possible to carry it for long without the support of the political parties.
In an exclusive chat with The Hindu , after the meeting, he said, “No agitation can sustain for a long time without the support of political parties. So far this has been the people’s agitation sans support from the parties. It is difficult to assess why the political parties are not coming forward to take up the cause. I think it is time that they forget their differences and united to fight for Samaikyandhra.” He further added that it was surprising that there was no political JAC so far.
Explaining the concept of gate meeting, he said that they would hold meetings outside the gate of every college in the city on a daily basis to create mass awareness and generate more support. The Secretary and Correspondent of the college S.V.S.M. Razith Kumar, Principal P. Krishnamurthy and Vice- Principal V. Narayana Rao also spoke.
