Hyderabad :

Since 1969 the historic Arts College of Osmania University had become the face of the Telangana movement. In fact, the political atmosphere at the college still remains the same.

But, it is not the politics alone which has made it popular. The Arts College had also been an academic hub in the past. But did the academics remain the same in the college? The veterans of 1969 separatist movement have a surprising answer to this question.

Participating in the platinum jubilee celebrations of the college, some of the former students who took part in the 1969 Telangana statehood movement made an interesting comparison of the olden days of the college with the present. Prof K.Madhusudan Reddy, who studied in the college in 1950, says that it was one of the best colleges in the entire south India in those days. Back in 1969, the students who took part in the agitation also used to equally focus on the studies despite the intense political atmosphere on the campus.

Reddy, who had a closer view of the Telangana movement in 1969 and again in 2014, says that activism had never been the excuse to skip studies during the first movement. “But now the Arts College has more politics and less academics,” he observes. He still remembers how he and his friends managed their studies along with politics.

After spending almost three decades in the college, Reddy has a lot to say about his memories with it. But he chooses to speak only about the academics and the iconic college building. Talking at the very platinum jubilee celebrations, Reddy frankly tells the students and faculty of the college that politics has started dominating academics in the college.

Another former principal of the college, Prof KS Upadhyaya, has also expressed a similar opinion. “Arts College has produced many academicians, leaders and bureaucrats. But where do we stand in the studies now?” he asks. Saying that so far the college has been in the news for various reasons, he reminds the students and faculty that this is the time to bring it in news for academic achievements.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / December 05th, 2014