Gujarat government has conceded to the University Grants Commission that it was lagging behind in establishing 'model degree colleges' in 20 districts of the state.The UPA government had decided to establish 374 model degree colleges in the country in a bid to meet the growing need of good education in a rapidly developing economy like India.
The union government has given financial aid to set up 20 such colleges, and Congress spokesperson and GU syndicate member Manish Doshi says if Gujarat government takes the necessary steps in time, Gujarat will benefit tremendously.
To meet the increasing demand of education, the Union government in the 11th five year plan decided to start model degree colleges in those areas of the country where Gross Enrolment Ratio is lower than stipulated. The ministry of human resource development along with the UGC has decided to start model degree colleges.
"Gujarat government has been able to utilise only 40% of the funds received from the Center for the education sector. With higher weightage given to education in 11th five year plan, each university has received nearly double the funds it did in the 10th plan.
Therefore, I demand that Gujarat government should make the maximum utilisation of this grant for the needy sections of the society to give them the opportunity of education," Doshi said.
Gujarat has accepted that 20 districts suffer from lower GER than the national average as they are tribal dominated. For the model degree college, Center is going to give Rs 3 crore of the Rs 8 crore required to build it.
"Modi government has been particularly partial towards self-finance colleges (SFC) and has aided them at the expense of the needy middle class. Students are forced to take admission in private colleges and thousands of seats in the government colleges remain empty due to delay in the admission process, arbitrary allocations and insufficient information provided to students," Doshi says.
Several SFCs for engineering, pharmacy, MBA, MCA, B.Ed, PTC etc., have sprung up over the past few years. The management of these SFCs take heavy donations to fill up their quota of seats. Doshi alleges this racket thrives due to state government patronage and protection. "This ruins the life of an average middle-class student," he says.
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