Telangana: Only 77 private colleges granted affiliation

HYDERABAD: Although admission schedule for the academic year 2020-21 was recently released by the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE), only 77 out of 1,486 private colleges in the state have been sanctioned affiliation until now.
In addition to this, while a list of 1,136 government junior colleges affiliated for the academic year 2020-21 has been uploaded to the board’s website, the details of these 77 private colleges are yet to be uploaded.“We have been waiting for more than six months for the state government to give us an exemption from submitting the fire no objection certificate (NOC), which is mandatory to get affiliation from the inter board. But, without taking any call on the subject, the board has released admission schedule,” said Satish G, the honorary president of Telangana Private Junior Colleges Managements Association. He added that as per the board’s website, not even a single private college has been sanctioned affiliation yet.
Meanwhile, the private college managements said that they have already started accepting admissions according to the schedule released by the board. They have also started classes for intermediate first-year students from Friday, abiding by the rules. They said that they are expecting the state to take a call on the fire NOCs in the next couple of days.
Until the academic year 2019-20, colleges with over 15 meters of height had to provide a NOC from the fire department for sanction of affiliation. However, in February 2020, it was made mandatory for colleges above 6 meters height to also submit an NOC. Interestingly, this rule is neither applicable to schools nor degree colleges, the managements pointed out.
TSBIE secretary Syed Omer Jaleel said that they are aiming at completing the affiliation process by the end of September. “Until now, the board has granted affiliation to 77 private colleges, 404 government colleges and 752 government sector colleges,” Jaleel told TOI, adding that colleges cannot start admission process without getting board’s affiliation. He said that students, who are waiting to take admissions in private colleges, in the meantime, can access digital lessons being telecast by the board through TV and the internet.
As per the board’s notifications, college managements have time till September 22, with a late fee of Rs 15, 000, to apply for affiliation. The last date to complete admission process is September 20.