Hyderabad: Polytechnic students across Hyderabad and Telangana escalated their protests this week against the state government’s move to merge polytechnic colleges with ITIs and Apprentice Training Centres under the newly formed Shakti department, with agitations reported in Ramanthapur, Musi Tank Bund, and reportedly in Ramnaspura and Bahadurpura, triggering traffic snarls across several city stretches.
The protests stem from GO 97, issued on July 3, which renamed the Labour, Employment, Training and Factories Department as SHAKTI, short for Skill, Human Capital and Knowledge Training Initiatives, and brought polytechnic colleges under the ambit of the Young India Skill University.
Students at Ramanthapur’s government polytechnic blocked roads in the area on Tuesday, chanting slogans demanding the scheme be scrapped, and the merger reversed. The demonstration held up traffic for an extended stretch as commuters sought alternate routes.
A separate protest was held at Musi Tank Bund, where students gathered demanding the Telangana government immediately cancel the Shakti scheme. Police were deployed to the site to maintain order as the demonstration drew attention in the busy area.
Protests were also reported in Vikarabad and Patancheru, with students at both locations demanding the withdrawal of GO 97. A former BRS MLA extended solidarity with the Vikarabad protesters.
Students say the merger threatens their access to ECET, the lateral-entry scheme that allows diploma holders to join undergraduate engineering programmes directly. Several protesters said the move would effectively force them to repeat Intermediate education if they wanted to pursue a BTech degree, undermining three years of diploma study.
The Telangana Polytechnic Joint Action Committee, formed by 16 government polytechnic teaching and non-teaching staff associations, has also opposed the merger, alongside the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which called GO 97 a historic mistake and demanded its immediate repeal. ABVP leaders argued that polytechnic education is a distinct technical training system rather than general skill training, and warned that folding it into Shakti would weaken opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds.
Faculty members have separately objected to the appointment of the Young India Skill University’s vice-chancellor, who does not hold a doctorate, arguing that PhD and MTech holders should not report to someone without one.
The state government has not issued a formal response to the protests so far. Further developments are awaited.
