The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to reserve 35% seats in BTech and BSc agriculture programmes in all private universities across the state under the government quota. The state government will also cap the course fee for these seats. Admission to these seats will be offered on the basis of state-level common entrance tests.
The state government has taken this decision to provide affordable education to all irrespective of their financial background. The reservation on these seats will be provided under the ‘convenor’ quota on which universities will not have the right to collect hefty fees from the students.
The state government will also pay for the education of meritorious students of economically backward students under a flagship programme ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’. The Chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE), Prof Hemachandra Reddy said, “The vision of our CM is to make quality and affordable education available to every single student in AP.”
He also shared that a lot of students of poor or middle-class families have been overburdened or had to forgo their seats in private universities due to the exorbitant fees collected by the authorities. This policy will uplift the scores of thousands of families across the state.
This reservation policy is, however, not applicable to deemed universities, as the regulatory body for these varsities UGC. The state government has also written to the UGC in this regard and asked for permission to implement this policy in deemed universities as well. The state is waiting for the UGC’s response in this regard.
As per the official statement, this policy will be implemented for the academic session 2021-22 and 2022-23. The course fee will range between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 70,000. Institutes and colleges including SRM University Amaravati, VIT University Amaravati, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Vizianagaram, and Bharatiya Engineering Science & Technology Innovation University, Anantapur, will implement this policy.
