The Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) invited applications for admissions into the residential degree colleges, where the application specifically says, "The TSWREIS invites applications from women (unmarried) candidates for admission into BA/B.Com/B.Sc 1st year degree courses for the academic year 2017-18." This has created an uproar among women activists and V.Sandhya of the Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) took exception to this form and said, "How do you define marriage? These girls could have been forced into it and in fact they are the ones who need upliftment and empowerment after marriage."
The issue snowballed into a controversy, forcing the Telangana government to roll back decision on the same day.
There are 23 residential degree colleges for women, each with an intake capacity of 280 students per year. Everything, right from education to food, is given free of cost to the students. 75 per cent of the seats are reserved for SCs and the remaining 25 per cent are for STs/BCs and general category.
The institution and the government seriously believe that education at undergraduate level is very critical for any girl to become self-reliant. It opens up new vistas and introduces her to a different world of opportunities. Telangana government is a pioneer in providing safe and secure environment to thousands of such girls, particularly from marginalised communities.
Dr R.S.Praveen Kumar, secretary of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, said, "This is the first time the government has established residential degree colleges for women in our organisation to save the girls from child and early marriages. We are yet to evolve into a mature institution. Till recently, we have been running 230 institutions only upto 12th grade. By the time our girls join degree colleges, they will be between 17 and 18 years of age. 17 is not the legally appropriate age for marriage. Hence there is confusion. Our intentions were unfortunately not understood in the right spirit."
According to Praveen, thousands of girls from their own junior colleges were waiting to join their new degree colleges which are known for quality education in English medium. "Our resources and seats are limited. We normally give preference to the girls who graduate from our own institutions, while welcoming others from outside too," he adds.
After the girls graduate from residential schools, the effort is to keep them focused on studies and career and not to get distracted. "Fortunately, till 12th grade, we did not face any drop-outs. Residential degree colleges is still an evolving institution and we continue to focus efforts to encourage our girls and their parents to grab the opportunities offered by the government without thinking about early marriage and stand as role models. Married women are not unwelcome here, but I feel that their husbands and families should also support her in the journey. There are ample number of opportunities available for such women to continue their education," says Praveen.
Clarifying the government's controversial stand, Praveen said, "We don't prevent anyone from joining. But we encourage girls to postpone their marriage till they become self-reliant. Ours is an organisation run with the support of 100 per cent grant-in-aid of state government with a clear purpose of giving quality education to the most marginalised sections. People need not pay anything to study in our institutions."
There are no residential degree colleges for men in Telangana state. "In fact, we strongly discourage marriage both for boys and girls when they are in this critical age and in the thick of their studies. I think providing opportunities to married women is an important requirement and one should not treat them disdain. We want to help all the girls who are married against their will and give them the best opportunity. For us, this is still a work in progress," he says.
