More Centres of Excellence, stakeholder meetings to improve education, admissions

The Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TGMREIS), in its effort to give a boost to student admissions, will soon increase across the State the number of Centres of Excellence (CoE) that offer coaching for competitive, common entrance exams.

The move is among a handful of measures that are aimed to popularise the educational initiative among minorities of Telangana. At the moment, Barkas Boys and Barkas Girls, Ranjendra Nagar Boys, Rajendra Nagar Girls, and Algole Boys and Algole Girls serve as CoE in the State.

“We intend to have at least one CoE in each of the erstwhile composite districts. As of now, most of these are in and around Hyderabad. Once up and running, these CoEs will provide National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, LAWCET, EAMCET and CLAT coaching to our students. We will provide all facilities, including study material. Extra facilities, if required, too will be provided. Our students here have done well,” B. Shafiullah, Secretary, Minorities Welfare told The Hindu.

TGMRIES has also been convening stakeholder meetings in an effort to improve service delivery. Another area of focus is paying greater attention to both the physical and metal well being of students with a command and control centre being established.

“We convened a meeting with non-government organisations, activists and those in the education field. We will have more such meetings to realise the full potential of schools and its students,” Mr Shafiullah said.

The TGMREIS runs as many as 205 schools and junior colleges across Telangana. In 2017-18, the year of inception, there were a little over 55,000 admissions. The number steadily rose to over 95,000 last year. This year, however, there has been a decrease in admissions. Office bearers, and staff maintain that systems are being strengthened.

Given that a majority of TGMRIES schools and colleges are private properties, the funds under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram, formerly known as the Multi Sectoral Development Programme, have been utilised to construct as many as 16 buildings of a total of 54 sanctioned buildings. Efforts are under way to complete more such facilities.

A allocation of over ₹995 crore has been earmarked for TGMREIS schools and junior colleges from the budget allotted for Minorities Welfare.