Not even a single Telangana edu campus Swachh

Hyderabad: None of the higher educational institutions in Telangana state made it to the Swachh Ranking of Education institutions-2018 released by the ministry of human resource development. Not even in the Clean Campus category. The Swachh Campus rankings were released by MHRD minister Prakash Javdekar and AICTE officials in New Delhi ahead of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi.

The rankings were awarded in several categories like state government universities, private residential universities, private colleges, non-residential universities, technical institutions etc. Best 51 higher educational institutions have been selected for Swachhata Ranking Awards in 8 categories. The first rank under the state-run universities went to Maharshi Dayanand University in Haryana with Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab standing second; third rank went to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in New Delhi.  The fourth rank was bagged by Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu and the fifth rank went to Acharya Nagarjuna University in Andhra Pradesh.

As per the rankings, only three universities from Andhra Pradesh-Acharya Nagarjuna University, Dravidian University and Koneru Lakshmaiah  Educational Foundation secured 5th, 9th and 10th rank in different categories. The institutions were judged on the basis of toilet adequacy, maintenance, garbage disposal systems, hostel kitchen hygiene, equipment sophistication, water purity, storage distribution; campus greenery, rain water harvesting, use of solar systems and village or neighbourhood adoption for hygiene.

Among the residential campuses of private universities, Pune’s Symbiosis International University has been ranked top followed by OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat and KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research in Belagavi. Raipur’s ITM University has been ranked first among non-residential campuses. The Northcap University in Gurugram and Dr C.V. Raman University in Bilaspur have been ranked second and third respectively.

Mr N. Narayana, Convener, Centre for Educational Research and Analysis said, “It is a big shame for Telangana state that none of the higher educational institutes have got Swachh rankings. It is a witness to the government’s negligence towards universities and colleges. “Telangana has to learn from neighbouring states. Tamil Nadu has bagged 14 awards, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka has 3 each. I hope the Governor as Chancellor of the universities, the state government and the heads of institutes take remedial measures.”

Professor Mr N.V. Ramana Rao, director of  National Institute of Technology Warangal said, “Our institute was shortlisted among 6,000 institutions and we were in the top 50. There are different parameters like toilet adequacy, maintenance, garbage disposal systems, hostel kitchen hygiene, equipment sophistication, water purity, storage distribution which decide the rankings. It can be easily achieved if we do this campaign and awareness in a systematic manner.’’