Surprise inspections unravel ‘stinking’ reality at pvt. colleges

Poor hygiene and lack of basic amenities greet regulatory panel members

A student explaining about the problems to the APSERMC members, during a suprise inspection to a private junior college in Vijayawada on Thursday.

The sorry state of affairs at several private junior colleges and hostels has come to light during surprise inspections conducted by the Andhra Pradesh School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC).

Poor unhygienic conditions and lack of basic amenities greeted the commission members at many many branches of Narayana and Sri Chaitanya Junior Colleges, during the inspections conducted in the last two days.

“Many students are attending classes in highly unhygienic conditions in some corporate and private junior colleges. We received complaints on poor water supply, untidy conditions and lengthy working hours,” said the members of the commission.

Managements pulled up

The commission pulled up the college managements over the poor sanitation in the classrooms, kitchens, dining halls, corridors and hostel dormitories.

“Following the directions of APSERMC Chairman R. Kantha Rao, we are conducting surprise inspections. Some private college managements were found to have started classes without cleaning or sanitising the campuses after the institutes were opened after the prolonged colousre in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. There is no supply of sanitisers, masks, proper drinking water and power supply in many campuses,” said APSERMC members V. Narayana Reddy and B. Eswaraiah.

‘COVID norms violated’

The commission members also interacted with the students who poured out their woes.

“Many students were found attending their classes without taking bath as there was no water supply in the hostels and toilets. We will recommend criminal action and other penalties against the managements concerned as per the provisions of the Epidemic Act, 1897,” said Mr. Narayana Reddy after inspecting several campuses on Thursday.

Some private managements running institutions without ensuring the basic amenities on their premises even after collecting heavy fees from the parents, said C.A.V. Prasad, another member of the commission.

Hefty fees

“Classes began from December 16 last year. The college management collected ₹8,000 for non-AC rooms and ₹12,500 for AC rooms in the hostels, in addition to ₹80,000 for tuition fee and ₹5,000 for pocket money per student. But, there is no drinking water supply to hostels. Some of the rooms do not have even fans,” complained a Intermediate second year student Karthik (name changed).

Another student, Sravan, said classes for the first year intermediate students began from January 16. “We cleaned the hostel rooms, classrooms and benches, which were filled with dust. The toilets were not cleaned and nauseating smell was emanating from the class and hostel rooms. The staff are not allowing parents into the hostels or classrooms. There is no water to wash clothes. The condition is worst,” he complained.

‘Raids will continue’

Parents complained to the Commission members over the poor hygienic conditions at the colleges. “Some parents told us that that the college staff were harassing their children, if they revealed the problems they faced on the campus,” said Commission vice-chairperson Vijaya Sarada Reddy.

“The students and parents urged us to conduct frequent raids on the private educational institutions. Similar raids will be conducted across the State,” said Mr. Narayana Reddy.