Gurukul institutions: New courses to replace those with less demand

Secretariat (Velagapudi): Minister for Social Welfare Merugu Nagarjuna instructed the officials to introduce science courses in the place of MEC which has been in less demand of late.

Reviewing the functioning of BR Ambedkar Gurukul Institutions at the Secretariat here on Monday, the Minister said that the new courses could be introduced from the next academic year.

Out of 1.17 lakh seats in the Gurukul institutions across the State, only 1.09 lakh seats were filled and most of the vacant seats are that of Intermediate sections. More and more students are opting for MPC and BiPC seats and are least interested to join the MEC group. The Minister also suggested that courses like medical lab technician could be introduced which would provide jobs. The Principals and DCOs should concentrate on improving the standards in the SC Gurukul institutions and if they are negligent, action could be initiated against them. In particular, the officials should focus on the institutions in Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Chittoor and Anantapur districts.

The Minister suggested that there should be awards to the students who fare better in academics. The officials informed the Minister that out of 189 Gurukuls across the State, 181 Gurukuls have pucca own buildings and the construction of buildings for the rest of eight Gurukuls was in various stages. They were told to expedite the construction. The officials were told to take up the construction of 13 school buildings which were in dilapidated condition. The Minister opined that the department should have its own engineering department to take up construction and maintenance of Gurukul educational institutions, hostels, shopping complex of the SC Corporation and LIDCAP buildings across the State.

He asked the Principal Secretary to go through the proposal and make a decision. Expressing concern over the SC, ST backlog posts, Nagarjuna said that the posts of caretakers and librarian posts should be filled up. The officials were told to take up the revision of the salaries of the part-time teachers working in Gurukuls.

Principal Secretary of the Social Welfare department R Jayalakshmi, secretary of Gurukul Education Society, AMO Sanjiva Rao and others participated.