33 B.Ed. colleges may lose minority tag

HYDERABAD: As many as 33 B.Ed. colleges in the state are on the verge of losing their minority status. In the wake of alleged irregularities in granting minority tags, the government has decided to re-examine the issue.
There were 39 B.Ed. colleges with minority status before the commencement of admissions last year. The number has now gone up to 112, most of them belonging to religious minorities.
The move to confer minority status on 112 out of 303 B.Ed.colleges in the state has kicked up a controversy. The prime reason, according to observers, is the mismatch between the number of seats available and the number of qualified candidates.
Besides, population figures do not indicate any need for 112 minority colleges. About 89 per cent of the population are Hindus, 9 per cent Muslim and nearly 2 per cent Christians and other minorities. Given that ratio, the number of minority colleges should not exceed more than 11 per cent of the total colleges.
Seats in minority colleges are allegedly being filled as management seats in the absence of students from the respective minority communities.
The government''s recent decision to accord minority status to 33 more colleges raised many an eyebrow in academic circles.
Allegations of large illegal transactions are being levelled against several officials in the minority welfare and school education departments.
Besides, students'' unions too have opposed the move saying that it would affect the interests of hundreds of meritorious students. Reason: About 1,760 seats in the open category would come under management quota.
Against this background, the school education department is conducting a high-level meeting with the officials concerned on Tuesday. The government is likely to annul the minority status of these colleges to put an end to the controversy, a senior official in the education department told The Times of India on Sunday.