More students in Telangana are set to get quality free education under the residential system from the next academic year with the Telangana Backward Classes Department upgrading 119 schools into junior colleges.
These will be schools-cum-junior colleges with one each in all Assembly constituencies of Telangana. The institutions that will be elevated to the Intermediate level will have a total of 800 seats in MPC, BiPC, MEC and CEC streams.
After the upgrade of schools into junior colleges, there will be a total of 261 such institutions under the control of the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Telangana Backward Classes Residential Educational Institutions Society. Currently, 310 BC Welfare Residential Educational Institutions are extending quality free education to 1,65,440 students, a majority of whom are from economically weaker sections.
“In the next academic year i.e., 2023-24, a total of 119 residential schools will be upgraded into junior colleges,” said a senior official of the BC Welfare Department.
With a massive demand for BC welfare schools, the State government,
during this academic year, launched 33 new residential schools with one each in the district. In addition to the one existing degree college, the government started 15 degree colleges, including eight for men and seven for women with a total intake of 4,800, this academic year.
These colleges have rolled out in-demand courses such as BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, BA in International Relations, BCom Business Analytics and BSc (Honours) in Design and Technology in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology. The courses evoked a good response from students.
For the first time, two agricultural residential degree colleges have also been established in the State, with one each at Wanaparthy and Karimnagar districts from this academic year. These agricultural degree colleges and 15 conventional degree colleges are under the control of the Society.
To ensure Class X and Intermediate students secure good scores in the forthcoming SSC and Intermediate Public Examinations, the Society is extending intensive coaching with daily revision and class tests.