At a time when existing colleges in J&K are faced with infrastructural deficit, the government’s decision to establish more than 50 new colleges has come under criticism.
The move has been described as “flawed” given the state authorities have failed to provide adequate funds for running the existing colleges smoothly. The decision to establish new 52 colleges by administration took everybody by surprise particularly when the same administration had in 2018 stonewalled establishment of 26 new colleges which were sanctioned by previous PDP-led coalition government.
But within a gap of a few months the administration sanctioned the new colleges with directions for making them functional with two years. These colleges have to be fully funded by cash starved J&K. “Days after Governor’s rule was imposed in the state, chief secretary convened a meeting with administrative secretaries.
The higher education department was criticized for opening colleges in lanes and streets,” said an official who was part of the meeting. Subsequently, he said during a separate meeting the decision to establish 26 new colleges was put in abeyance. “I remember the first college was established in 1905 in J&K and till last year successive regimes have been able to set up 96 degree colleges in 114 years. And in one year, the administration gave approval for establishment of 52 new colleges,” the official said.
The colleges have been approved at a time when the existing colleges are craving for proper infrastructural facilities and around two dozen colleges are still functioning from make-shift facilities for almost a decade now. Sample this: Degree College Bagh-e-Dilawar Khan in Khanyar.
It was approved under the state plan in 2011 and is still functioning from three rooms of MP Higher Secondary School. The school has nine students and 11 teachers. Till date the government has not been able to construct permanent campus for the college.
This is not the lone case. There are around 20 such colleges which are without permanent campuses for past seven to eight years. A top official said establishing new colleges will not only further delay the proposal to overcome infrastructural needs in the existing colleges but compromise quality education there as well. “We will have to shift some permanent faculty to the new colleges and it will have an adverse impact on the education setup,” he said.
As of now, the government has laid foundation of 31 newly announced degree colleges- 16 in Jammu and 15 in Kashmir. “The department has been asked to provide state land for establishment of all these colleges,” an official said.
The official said there will be five to six colleges within a radius of five to six kms which is a gross violation of set norms for setting up of a degree college. “The first criterion to establish a degree college is that it should have five to six feeding higher secondary schools and should be set up at a distance of 20 kms from the existing college.
Rules can be relaxed only in case of border areas keeping in view the terrains,” the official said. But of the 52 colleges only four to five colleges have been announced for remote areas. “Government has announced new colleges at Aloochibagh and Hyderpora in Srinagar while as in Jammu a college will be setup at Bathindi and Sidra.
The enrolment in these colleges won’t go beyond hundred or two hundred as we are already witnessing dwindling trend in the enrolment of existing colleges,” he said.
The enrolment in existing colleges has witnessed a downfall from past one year, setting alarm bells ringing for higher education department. As per official figures, the enrolment in degree colleges of south Kashmir districts has dropped drastically during past one year.
In Government Degree College (GDC) Anantnag the admissionhas dropped from 1835 in last year to 900 this year. Similarly, in GDC forWomen Bhijbehra the number of students taking admissions has decreased fromlast year’s 945 to 600 this year.
As per official figures mentioned in the memo of the higher education department submitted to state administrative council less than 25 percent of pass outs from schools enter the colleges in the state.
Officials however attribute the decreasing trend in the enrolment to the affiliation of five major colleges of city with cluster universities in Srinagar and Jammu. “We used to have 75,000 students in colleges out of which 25,000 were in five city colleges which are now affiliated with Cluster University Srinagar.
In Jammu enrolment in colleges was 35,000 out of which 15,000 used to be in five colleges now affiliated with Cluster University,” the official said.