Andhra Pradesh's Special Chief Secretary (Higher Education) Satish Chandra has said plans are afoot to develop IIITs into state-of-the-art educational institutions. The official launched the General Online Counselling for the year 2021-22 at RGUKT Nuzvid on Wednesday, which will continue till December 2.

He said 600 vacant faculty posts in IIITs in the State would be filled soon. "One in every 20 students will be contacted by a faculty member to monitor their academic progress and take steps to address their academic and personal issues so that the students are not subjected to any psychological stress," he said.

The official added IIITs will have a full range of infrastructure such as labs, libraries, computers and sports facilities, and asked the students to be more focused on education. As many as 231 students reported at Nuzvid campus and 99 others at RK Valley campus on the first day of the counselling 70 students were absent for counselling on the first day.