TS govt declares free inter education in govt junior colleges

Hyderabad, June 25: In a major move, the Telangana government on Wednesday launched its flagship programme of free education from KG to PG. Announcing this, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari said that students will be provided free education in all government junior colleges in the State from the present academic year. According to him, there are 1.15 lakh students in the 402 government junior colleges in the State and the number may rise to 1.30 lakh this year. All the inter students would get free training with waiver of the fees besides getting textbooks free of cost. Science students are paying Rs 893 and arts students Rs 533 per annum. The government is contemplating to return the fee to the students who already paid the amount. The Board of Intermediate Education will bear Rs 9 crore fees amount of the 1.30 lakh students. The Board will also bear Rs 7 crore, the cost of textbooks. Kadiam Srihari said the vacant lecturer posts will be filled after the regularisation of contract lecturers working in junior colleges. Focus will be laid on providing quality education.