Establishing a government degree college—the main demand of young voters from the Vijayawada West Assembly constituency—seems to be going unheard by all the candidates in the forthcoming elections.
Most of the city’s hilly landscape falls under the West constituency, which is bounded by Prakasam Barrage in the south and Gollapudi in the west, Jakkampudi to the north, and the Old Government General Hospital to the east. Populated mostly by daily wagers, the constituency, with a population of more than 3 lakh, does not have an exclusive government degree college at present, say locals.
“There used to be two government-aided colleges until last year: Kakaraparti Bhavanarayana (KBN) College and Syed Appalaswamy College (SAS) in this constituency. Now, the two have become autonomous. This has led to an increase in the fees, making education out of bounds for many children who come from low-income families. There has been a rise in the dropout rate, too,” says Suryanarayana, a member of the Degree College Sadhana committee.
