Hyderabad: While the Supreme Court has directed Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh to begin engineering classes by the first week of September, ambiguity remains over the Telangana state government’s Fast (Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana) scheme. TS might not commence certificate verification before the final SC hearing on August 11.
The scheme is the reason Eamcet counselling has been delayed this far and the committee formed to finalise the guidelines for Fast hasn’t even met once. Officials say it might be a month before the guidelines are out.
Meanwhile, the Eamcet admissions committee is expected to meet on Wednesday to review the counselling schedule and also to finalise dates for web counselling.
The SC on Monday had directed the states to conduct counselling as per the notification issued earlier by the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE). Certificate verification will begin from August 7 and go on till August 23.
This has left the officials in a fix as there is hardly any time to finalise the guidelines. Students availing of the fee reimbursement scheme will have to submit income and other caste certificates during the certificate verification process itself. The government has also made it clear that fees will only be deposited in the accounts of the students.
“Some sort of undertaking will have to be given at the time of admission that the government will pay their fees or will reimburse the students,” a senior official said. “It might be a month before there is clarity on the issue. The committee has not met even once,” he added.
This has clearly left the government on a sticky wicket as Fast was the contentious issue all along. An economically backward student’s choice of college might change depending on his eligibility for the Fast scheme. “If a student knows he will not get fee reimbursement under the scheme, he will not choose a seat in a college where the fees is higher,” a senior member of the APSCHE said.
Meanwhile, the admissions committee is expected to meet on Wednesday morning to review the notification.
Sources said that the meeting will discuss the dates of web counselling. The SC’s directions have also left little time for web counselling. The current notification issued by the APSCHE mandates that certificates verification will end on August 23 but at least two phases of counselling need to be completed before classes can begin.
Telangana education minister G. Jagadeesh Reddy said that the government has not examined the directions yet but said he respected the court’s decision.
He said the government has appealed to the court to give some more time to conduct counselling. He also said a decision on attending the admissions panel meeting on Wednesday is yet to be taken.
