Welcoming the opening of 50 new colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, former finance minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Saturday demanded that the state government should simultaneously go for creation of permanent staff for these colleges to achieve the target.
“I wholeheartedly welcome opening of new colleges and felicitate theHonb’le Governor for this much required initiative. However, my earnest appealwould be that the administration should create permanent faculty positions forthese colleges or otherwise the purpose of establishing these colleges would bedefeated,” Bukhari remarked.
The former minister also urged the governor led administration to take athorough review of the infrastructure including housing and equipment, besidesfaculty position in the existing colleges in the state and take effectivemeasures to address the loopholes.
“Also the government must expedite the process of identification andarrangement of land wherever the new colleges are supposed to function in rentedaccommodations. Need of the hour is to create and advertise the faculty andother staff positions urgently so that the colleges, new and existing onesbecome real centers of learning in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
Bukhari said the existing and newly opened colleges should have basic aswell as latest job-oriented courses for students to address the grave issue ofrising unemployment in the state.
“Only then can these institutions serve the purpose of providingquality and meaningful education to the youth of the state,” he said, whileadding that the government should strike a balance between its focus onexpansion of pre university education and strengthening the infrastructure incolleges across the state.