The Central Tribal University (CTU) in Andhra Pradesh is set to complete its first year of functioning, and admissions for the upcoming academic year of 2020-2021 are likely to be notified soon. The university will also have its own entrance exam this time.
CTU AP, which began functioning in 2019, earlier conducted its entrance exam along with that of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh (the only other central tribal university in India). This year, however, CTU will have an exclusive entrance examination.
However, not many Andhra students are aware of the IGNTU Amarkantak, and hence might end up missing the exam, said Krishna Mohan, Registrar of Andhra University, which acts as the mentor university for CTU.
“The advisory committee has said that the courses should be designed in a way that they are beneficial to tribal students. To encourage eligible ST candidates to join these courses, it has been suggested that the entrance exam must be conducted in places like Paderu, Araku, and also parts of Chattisgarh and Odisha, which are neighbouring states with high tribal population,” he said.
Mohan added that the proposed new location of CTU, near Pachipenta village of Vizianagaram district, will be very close to Chattisgarh and Odisha.
CTU AP began functioning in July 2019, and despite demands for a higher representation of students from Scheduled Tribes, the university went on to adopt the same reservation policy as other central universities across the country.
This meant that despite demands for 50% reservation for tribal students, the reservation was capped at 7.5% at a university intended to provide better access of higher education to tribal populations.
There are other institutions like North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow which have 50% seats reserved for SC/ST students, as these institutes were set up specially to promote educational interests of students from SC and ST communities. However, for others, reservations can only be increased by an Act of Parliament, which has not been possible in the case of CTU. The only other central tribal university in India, the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, also does not have a provision to provide adequate representation of tribal students.
The university, in the first year of its existence, offered two PG courses, two integrated degrees, two PG diploma courses and a diploma, in subjects like social work, chemistry, tourism and hospitality management and horticulture. Of a total sanctioned strength of 190 seats across courses, 127 were filled, with 44 seats being occupied by ST students. This meant that 23% of the total sanctioned seats were filled by tribal students overall.
“The same reservation policy which is being followed in other central universities across India is being followed here. However, we are encouraging more tribal students to join, on par with other candidates,” Krishna Mohan said.
In the PG courses, seven out of 40 sanctioned seats went to students from the ST category. In the integrated courses, 19 out of 60 sanctioned seats, and in the PG diploma and Horticulture diploma courses, 18 out of 90 sanctioned seats were filled by ST students.