310 private colleges closed for non-release of fee payment: Harish Rao

HYDERABAD

Both teaching and non-teaching staff in private colleges and post-graduate colleges in the state are struggling to provide for their families as managements have not paid their salaries for months due to non-release of funds for payment of fees for the past two-and-a-half years, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao said.

“Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who often claims to create a world-class education system in the state with Young India Schools, is unable to meet the fee-paying fees, pushing private degrees and post-graduate colleges into crisis,” a BRS leader said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said several colleges were no longer able to pay building rents, electricity bills, university fees and other administrative costs. Of the 960 colleges functioning in the past, 310 were already closed and more colleges were facing closure as the government did not release funds to pay the fees, he said.

The impact would be mostly on rural areas where the presence of undergraduate and postgraduate colleges is very small. The closure of one college in a rural area would take away higher education from hundreds of students, mostly from SC, ST and BC communities. He explained that at the time of formation of the state (BRS came to power in 2014) the toll fees were ₹2,500 crore and all were approved and the scheme continued.

In nine-and-a-half years, the government paid ₹19,500 to the BRS as compensation for dues. Almost three years after the Congress took over the government, the dues stood at ₹10,000 crore, Mr. Harish Rao said and demanded that the government introduce a system of early release of funds for the scheme.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 23:31 IST