The students pursuing B.Voc (3-year) in Automotive technology at University of Kashmir have expressed their concern over the lack of facilities and the permanent staff at the centre.
The students complained that the course was started under Deen Dayal Upadhyay (Kaushal) Kendra in 2019, however the varsity is yet to place the requisite facilities in place as per the requirement of the students.
"We have been facing hardships in the department from the day we joined this newly oriented course at the University," a group of students complained.
The students said that the University’s Directorate of Lifelong Learning (DLL) has failed to set up the necessary facilities for the students, despite the passage of over three years.
"From delayed exams to delayed declaration of results. We are facing problems on every front," the students said.
The students complained about lack of teaching faculty in the department, noting that only two contractual lecturers were taking classes of two batches of Automotive technology.
"It is a prerequisite condition that an engineering course needs well qualified and experienced faculty but the situation on ground is different here," the students said.
"We joined this three year course in 2019 and unfortunately we are still waiting for commencement of class work for our 5th semester," the students said.
The Director in the Directorate of Lifelong Learning (DLL) Ghulam Hassan Mir when contacted said all the facilities were in place noting that he did not receive any such complaints from the students.
About the lack of faculty, he said the course has two components which include general education and its skill part.
"For general education we have engaged KU teachers and for the skill component we have tied up with industries and have engaged Assistant Professors as well," he said.
The Director DLL said they were trying their best to do whatever was possible to run the department smoothly.
"But this is a new department and it takes a lot of time to set things right. We cannot claim that everything is alright and going so nicely. There may be certain issues which can be addressed by the passage of time," he said.
He however turned down the allegation of delayed results saying that he keeps a track of the evaluation of answer scripts and ensures that results are declared on time.
