Minister says Telangana won’t pay Seemandhra students’ fee
Hyderabad: Telangana education minister G. Jagadeeshwar Reddy on Thursday said there was no question of the Telangana government paying the fees of Seemandhra students studying in Telangana under the fee reimbursement scheme. He was critical of AP ministers for submitting a representation to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Wednesday seeking fee reimbursement from the Telangana government for Seemandhra students.
“It appears that the AP government has decided to create trouble for Telangana government by raking up senseless issues. They are trying to divert the attention of the Telangana government from its administration. We have already made it clear that we will bear the fees of only Telangana students. It applies even to Telangana students studying in Seemandhra. It is shameful that the AP ministers are demanding that the Telangana government should pay the fees of Seemandhra students studying in Telangana,” Mr Reddy remarked.
He said, “The AP government should realise that admissions and fee reimbursement are two different things. We are not objecting to common admissions for both the states. Seemandhra students can freely take admissions in Telangana colleges in counselling. Fee reimbursement is a welfare scheme of our government. We have every right to draft norms for eligibility for the scheme.”
The government is actively considering fixing a norm wherein the birthplace of both students and their parents should be taken into account to determine nativity. According to this, not only students, even their parents should have been born in Telangana to get eligibility for their wards for fee reimbursement. A final decision on the issue is pending.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting with officials of the education and welfare departments on fee reimbursement issue. The meeting primarily focused on the norms that need to be adopted to determine ‘nativity’ of Telangana students.
