Telangana: DOST not so friendly for degree students

Hyderabad: About 4,000 degree aspirants could not get admission in degree colleges for the current academic year due to a glitch in the DOST portal. Students and college managements allege that many students did not get seats despite lakhs of seats lying vacant in TS degree colleges. They demanded spot admissions for the students who failed to sail through the online admission process.

The Telangana State Council of Higher Education conducted three counselling sessions via the DOST portal to fill 4 lakh seats in Telangana degree colleges in the state. Nearly 2.20 lakh seats were filled in the counselling and 1.80 lakh seats are still lying vacant due to less popular courses in life sciences while the humanities stream and glitches in the degree online services. Students’ organisations recently held protests against TSCHE.

Lakshman, an SFI member, said, “As there were glitches in DOST portal, many students could not get admissions in the third phase. We have submitted a memorandum to the TSCHE, requesting spot admissions.” Vijay Bhasker Reddy, general secretary, Telan-gana Degree College Management, said, “To help 4,000 students, who were unable to get seats in the first three phases, we have moved the court. A few students mi-ssed seats as they wished to change their colleges.”
Professor V. Venkata Ramana, vice-chairperson, Telangana State Council of Higher Edu-cation, said, “The DOST admissions have been closed for the academic year 2017-18. Students’ organisations have given a memorandum and we will look into it.”