Telangana government is actively considering a proposal to set-up an exclusive university for the Dalit students. A Hindustan Times report stated that the proposed University will be part of the government’s policy of providing education free of cost to students from weaker sections from kindergarten to post-graduation (KG to PG) level.
The proposal was raised for discussion by the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), a government arm which oversees 268 residential institutions for Dalit students from Class V to undergraduate level, besides the recently sanctioned 39 non-residential play schools with pre-primary education.
“We discussed the proposal for establishing an exclusive university for Dalit students with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently and he has appreciated the idea. The modalities are being worked out and if everything goes as per the plan, we are likely to start the university by 2018-19 academic year,” TSWREIS secretary Dr R S Praveen Kumar said, reported Hindustan Times.
The university will be the first of its kind in India as there have been universities for women and religious minorities but never for the weaker sections. However, there are reservations for in various universities across the country.
“Till a couple of years ago, we had been providing education to our students from primary school up to Intermediate. Later, we started degree colleges with undergraduate courses. At present, we have 30 degree colleges with over 3,500 students. In the next step, we want to groom them as post-graduates by establishing our own university. Thus, we want to empower our students with higher education so that they face any challenges in the world and compete with any other social groups,” said Praveen.
