Relying on admission agents, freebies to fill engg. seats

Private colleges in Karimnagar draw flak for “unethical practices”

The appointment of ‘PROs’ and ‘consultants’ by various private engineering colleges across the integrated Karimnagar district to ‘facilitate’ enrolment of students by hook or by crook has drawn widespread criticism.

Luring students

The private colleges have announced several goodies and freebies including free education, free bus transportation, smartphones, and even ₹10,000 cash to attract gullible students and their parents during the admission season.

The PROs and consultants appointed by the colleges have been going around spreading the word about the sops and collecting certificates, Aadhaar card, EAMCET rank cards, photographs etc. of the ‘interested’ students.

The process of students selecting their courses and colleges through web options on their own has been diluted by the agents’ interference. Some of the colleges are even paying the fees online from their own accounts instead of students doing it.

Fee recovery

Those in the know point out that the ‘paid fee’ would eventually be recovered from the student after the admission is completed as they would avail themselves of the government fee reimbursement programme.

The reimbursement programme was initiated by Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in 2008 and continued by his successors. The scheme brought engineering and medical education within the reach of a large number of students from economically weaker sections who would otherwise not have been able to afford expensive private colleges.

State honorary president of Confederation of All Telangana Consumer Organisations, N. Srinivas has termed the appointment of agents by the private engineering colleges to lure students as “unethical” where education is being converted into a business. “Some private engineering colleges for their selfish gains have degraded the education system. Engineering graduates appearing for VRO exams is a glaring example of degrading values in professional colleges,” said Mr. Srinivas.

The constitution of consumer protection council in each district would check such illegal and unethical practices by educational institutions, he suggested and urged the government to take measures to control the practice of enrolling the students into a college without giving them the chance to make an informed choice.

Stooping low

Jyothismathi Institute of Technology and Sciences chairman J. Sagar Rao said a few engineering colleges were ruining the education and career prospects of the students by luring them during the admission season by announcing sops and cash for the sake of availing fee reimbursement benefits.