Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: Cabinet once again deferred its decision on the proposal of the Department of Higher Education regarding opening of new BEd colleges in the State.
Sources told EXCELSIOR that when the proposal of the Higher Education Department containing the recommendations of the high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary and a communication of the Minister Incharge, Mohd Akbar Lone came up for discussion, some Ministers stressed the need for further exercise on the subject before reaching to any conclusion in the light of the fact thousands of seats are remaining vacant in the existing BEd colleges as such the situation doesn’t warrant opening of more colleges in private sector.
On this, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah said, “we do want to open BEd colleges in those areas which are presently lacking the same but before that each and every aspect has to be looked into minutely”, adding “there is also a need to rationalize the seats in the existing colleges in order to ensure that such a large number of seats don’t remain unfilled”.
About the communication of the Minister seeking opening of eight colleges on compassionate grounds, the Cabinet observed, “there is no justification behind sanctioning colleges on compassionate grounds”. After thorough discussion, the Cabinet once again deferred its decision on the subject and sought more details on various aspects.
It is pertinent to mention here that high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, which was constituted to look into various issues vis-à-vis granting permission for opening of new BEd colleges in the State, has unanimously recommended that moratorium should continue to remain in force.
“The committee has drawn conclusion that intake capacity of the existing BEd colleges is more than the admissions sought and the number of non-local students seeking admission in the colleges is declining as BEd colleges are now available in their States”, sources informed, adding “out of 22 districts, the private colleges exist in 18 districts and since the BEd colleges are available in the vicinity of uncovered districts, there is no need to establish new private BEd colleges as it will further deplete the number of candidates seeking admission in the already-established colleges affecting viability of such institutions”.
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