Reason is Lack of New Entrants; Senior Students To Be Shifted
The state education department has given its nod to the district
primary education director to transfer students of colleges offering primary teachers
certificate (PTC) courses which may be forced to close down because it they did
not grant any admissions this year.
Deputy Director of state primary education department Bharat P and it said that
colleges that will apply for closure will be allowed and senior students will be
transferred to neighboring colleges. Pandit said that the craze for admission in
PTC colleges has gone down in the past years and there is possibility of 100 odd
colleges closing down this year.
This year, 103 self-financed PTC colleges in Gujarat have not been able to enroll
even a single student. In 2010, a similar situation stared at 32 PTC Self-Financed
Institutes (SFIs), which drew fewer than 10 students. The colleges had later filed
an application with the director of the state primary education, seeking permission
to close down.
The admission process at the 472 PTC colleges of Gujarat concluded in early July.
Initially, 14,000 students had applied for the 35,000 seats available. The final
figure was even more dismal. Of the total applicants, only 7,272 actually enrolled
into these colleges. In 10 per cent management quota seats, only 1325 students took
admission taking the total number of students who took admission in PTC colleges
to 8397.
The likelihood of 100 odd colleges wishing to close down gains cadence from the
fact that apart from the 103 colleges that got zero students, 141colleges got only
one to five students while 45 colleges admitted five to ten students. Each class
in PTC colleges has a sanctioned strength of 60 students. Most of the PTC colleges
except those run by the state government are facing problems.
President of the State Self-Financed PTC Colleges Association Nanji bhai Vekharia
said that the policy of the state education department is not conducive to PTC colleges,
especially those run by the self-financed institutions. He said that the self-financed
PTC colleges will soon move court urging that the government allow these colleges
to carry out100 per cent admissions themselves.
If we are allowed to carry out admission for all the seats, and not just the ten
per cent management quota, we will be able to fill the seats better. There is certain
apathy of the state department towards self-financed PTC colleges' said Vekharia.
Vekharia admitted that the current situation in PTC colleges in the state was grim
and 100 colleges were on the verge of closure.
Colleges misused scholarship grant
The state education department has unearthed a scam where the management
of many PTC colleges was illegally taking scholarship grants of Rs. 20,000 by showing
admissions of many students from reserved categories in their colleges. The managements
would take the school leaving certificates and mark sheets of students from the
reserved categories and show them as students in their colleges. They would then
take scholarship grants given to these students and use them for personal consumption.
The education department is closely looking into the issue and will initiate strict
action.
Courtesy: Times of India
