Facial recognition attendance will soon be made compulsory in colleges, universities in Andhra Pradesh, says APSCHE Chairman

The State government is determined to improve the quality of education in colleges and bring down the number of dropouts, says Hemachandra Reddy

Attendance for all undergraduate, postgraduate and research scholars in the universities and colleges across the State will be made compulsory through the face-recognition app by the end of November, says Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) Chairman K. Hemachandra Reddy.

Addressing the media here on November 20 (Sunday), Mr. Hemachandra Reddy said the State government was determined to improve the quality of education in the colleges and bring down the number of dropouts.

“The State has excess seats in the institutions of higher education due to the mistakes committed by the previous governments. The seats have been brought down from six lakh to 5.40 lakh by adhering to the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and after thorough scrutiny by the A.P. Higher Education Regulatory Commission,” he said.

“While the number of students passing out Intermediate is 3.5 lakh, we have 5.4 lakh seats in institutions of higher education. We aim to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) to 70% by 2035 from the present 30.2%. The present number of seats will be enough to achieve that target,” Mr. Hemachandra Reddy said, and added that the Central government had set a target of achieving 50% GER by 2035.

The State government tied up with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and NASSCOM to provide compulsory eight-month internship for all students at the higher education level. As part of the initiative, two lakh internships had been provided for two months in the first year, and the process would continuing till the end of the current academic year, he said.

“We have closed down 57 engineering and professional colleges, and 250 degree colleges, besides stopping 350 courses that are of no value, or are lacking in quality. A decision on the fate of 567 research scholars, which is hanging in the balance in Rayalaseema University, will be taken within one week,” Mr. Hemachandra Reddy said.

More than 1,000 research scholars had been admitted in violation of norms in Rayalaseema University, and a way out was being thought about.