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EDUCATION |
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New
colleges, courses frozen in Delhi
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 3
The Government of NCT of Delhi will not give its nod to private educational institutions wanting to establish colleges, offering undergraduate studies or introduce newer academic courses this year, till such time as they strengthen their faculty and augment the infrastructure. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit issued the relevant orders to this effect late last week before leaving on a weeklong twin-nation tour of Denmark and the United States at the invitation of UNOPS, a United Nations agency. Flooded with requests by the 55-odd colleges affiliated to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, the Chief Minister convened a meeting of top officials wherein it was agreed to freeze establishment of newer colleges or introduction of new courses till such time as the affiliated colleges fulfilled certain commitments. “Many of the affiliated colleges are still to strengthen their faculty and/or infrastructure,” an official said when asked for the immediate provocation for the freeze. The orders, he clarified, would not apply to educational institutions offering courses in medicine and health. The axe will also fall on private-and government-run colleges that were established two or more years back but have neither secured the land nor have anything in the name of official premises to boast of. “Notices have been issued to such educational institutions and they have been notified of the government’s decision to withdraw issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the next academic year,” sources said, adding “Such colleges will not be allowed to introduce any new courses also.” The order, sources said, states that the educational institutions that are found deficient in this regard and have not rectified the anomalies will not be revalidated for the previous year and will not be eligible for NOC.” Explaining the rationale for colleges coming under particular scrutiny, sources said the motivation was to goad those colleges into opting for specialised courses and build a reputation for quality education in a certain discipline. “The overwhelming sentiment,” the sources said quoting officials present in that meeting, “was that there was no point in a college offering all or most of the courses without building a reputation for excellence in a particular stream.” By this order, officials felt, the trend of colleges offering mindless number of courses that are of little or no consequence to the student will be arrested. What the order states (and the government wants), they said, was for the colleges to specialise in certain disciplines like commerce, humanities, information technology, etc instead of spreading themselves horizontally too thin by offering 10 or 15 courses. Commenting on the status of certain educational institutions, officials said there were more courses and still more students than could be handled by the faculty. “What the order tries to achieve is rationalisation of courses corresponding to the strength of faculty,” they asserted. The big idea, according to officials engaged in drafting of the relevant orders, was to improve the quality of education and have centres of excellence, not “third rate colleges.”
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