Srinagar, Aug 2: In a glaring instance of official indifference, the J&K Government has not made any headway with regard to the conversion of Kashmir Government Polytechnic (KGP) at Gogjibagh here into the Government Engineering College. The proposal was mooted in 2004-05.  
 The Technical Education Department had initially mooted the proposal in 2004 with an objective that the KGP, which has all the facilities and infrastructure to make up for an Engineering College, would be converted into a government-fun engineering college,
 The initial proposal, according to sources, proposed that the KGP and Jammu Government Polytechnic shall be converted to Engineering Colleges offering degrees in Information Technology and other computer science-related branches. But the proposal, they said, didn’t click for unknown reasons.
 Later, the sources said, a fresh proposal was mooted in 2008-2009  with the decision that the two polytechnic colleges shall offer degrees in the core branches of engineering like Civil, Mechanical, Automobile, Electrical, Electronics and Communication. It was also proposed that the diploma courses shall remain intact at the polytechnic colleges. But the proposal is yet to see the light of the day for unknown reasons.
 Now that the J&K Government is in the process of establishing 18 new polytechnic colleges, the observers want the Government to make an immediate headway with regard to conversion of KGP into a Government Engineering College.
 For this, they said, the government has to do away with ‘dual control’ on technical education in the state.
 Pertinently, the Technical Education Department is controlling the Polytechnic Colleges and ITIs in the state while the Government Engineering College at Jammu is controlled by the Higher Education Department.
 The Technical Education Department lost control over the Government Engineering College on 17-03-2008 vide order No 322 GAD of 2008.
  “In a practice everywhere that engineering colleges and polytechnics are controlled by the Technical Education Department. But in J&K, this is not the case, much to the disappointment of officers and academics. Since KGP is under the Technical Education Department, its conversion into an Engineering College seems to be becoming a bone of contention as the latter has to be taken care by the Higher Education Department then,” the sources said.
 “The Government has to do something in this regard, in view of the civil society concerns for having a government engineering college in the Valley.”
 “The Government doesn’t have to incur finances in upgrading the KGP.  That is because the present infrastructure there by way of space, buildings, qualified teaching faculty, laboratories, libraries and other resources available in the core branches is more than sufficient to run a full-fledged Government Engineering College,” a KGP teacher said.
 He reiterated “The faculty at the KGP is well qualified. Almost 90 percent of them are M.Tech. The college has better resources than any other engineering institution in the state. It is just a formal political announcement that needs to be made. This would fulfill the long cherished dream of the non-medical students in the Valley.”
 Pertinently, the cry for establishment of Government Engineering College in Kashmir is gaining momentum in view of the state government’s oft-repeated assertion that it “wants the youth of JK to be skilled and technically trained.”
 Pertinently, while the Minister for Technical Education RS Chib addressed Microsoft function at KU recently, asserting that Government is doing “everything to promote technical education in the state”, the ground scenario belies the claim. 

Lastupdate on : Thu, 2 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 2 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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