Hyderabad: The number of students opting for higher education in Telangana state is gradually coming down, according to admission data from various institutions.
Experts say this is because some youngsters prefer to get jobs while others are migrating to other states for higher studies in premier institutes.
Over the years, the percentage of enrolment in higher education courses has come down, though the number of seats has increased.
When it comes to medical courses such as dentistry, nursing and pharmacy, the seat share has remained the same and there is no significant rise or drop. The course that has showed significant growth in number of seats as well as student enrolment is law. There were 2,670 law seats in 2014, which grew to 5,466 in 2019, with occupancy of 92.1 per cent.
When it comes to engineering seats, out of 96,518 seats, only 68,296 seats were filled this time leaving about 30 per cent of seats vacant.
In academic year 2014-15, the enrolment percentage for degree, post-graduate and engineering courses was 72.10. This has gone down to 60.90 per cent in the current academic year, 2018-19, resulting in 40 per cent seats being vacant, according to official data from the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE).
Mr Amarnath Vasireddy, an academic, says that the main reason for seats lying vacant is because of the poor quality of academic standards. “Many middle class families are sending their children to other states and are preferring premier institutes for higher education as there is no quality in the higher education institutes here in the state except for a few. There is no proper infrastructure or equipment, which is the reason why certain colleges are also being closed.” He added that faculty in many institutions are not being paid salaries on time.
