580 professional colleges in Visakhapatnam district on the brink of closure

Around 580 professional colleges in Visakhapatnam district will have to close unless  the state government reimburses Rs.160 crore of the promised tuition fee for the academic year 2012-13 by 21^st January 2013, the state welfare association of the managements of various professional colleges  has threatened.

According to officials of these colleges, the government is supposed to reimburse around Rs 150 crore by way of tuition fee of more than 1.10 lakh students (both fresh and renewal applicants) of around 580 colleges (from intermediate to degree, PG, engineering, MCA, MBA and pharmacy courses) in Visakhapatnam district alone for the year 2012-13.

According to Ratnakar, the managements of about 28 engineering and seven pharmacy colleges in the district are not able to meet recurring expenditures including salaries to staff and other expenses on college maintenance due to the delay in releasing fee reimbursement funds as around 85% of the seats in all professional colleges have been filled with beneficiaries of the fee reimbursement scheme.

"About 116 engineering colleges across the state, including three in Visakhapatnam district alone, have declared closure due to the government's apathy in releasing funds in time under the scheme. If the situation continues, more than 50% of the colleges will be forced to down shutters. The government's attitude is indirectly affecting the quality of education," Ratnakar said.