GO 97: Congress finds a committee, students want clarity
The BRS has set September 7 as the deadline to withdraw the order. The government’s review panel has 30 days to explain what the restructuring actually means.
A six-member panel has been given 30 days to review GO 97.
Telangana’s polytechnic students are asking a basic question about GO Ms No. 97: what happens to their education? The Congress government’s answer so far is a six-member committee and a 30-day deadline.
The government has proposed bringing polytechnic colleges into a Young India Skill University-linked skilling framework. Its September 2024 release described this as a “unified and standardised skilling ecosystem”. Students and teaching staff, however, have protested the proposed integration, demanding that colleges remain under the State Board of Technical Education and Training and the Education Department. They have raised concerns about autonomy, diploma education and progression to engineering courses. Those concerns are documented; the order does not establish that engineering pathways will be removed.
The BRS has backed the protests and demanded withdrawal of GO 97 by September 7, when the Assembly session is reported to begin. T Harish Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav issued the deadline, while K T Rama Rao said he would raise the issue in the Assembly. BRS leaders have also alleged that the order could lead to privatisation and asset acquisition. The available material does not prove either claim. The government has not publicly answered that allegation in the research reviewed.
The six-member panel, headed by K Keshava Rao, is supposed to consult stakeholders. The missing stakeholder is the order itself: the full text of GO 97 has not been published in the material available.