Karnataka's PU colleges with less than 20 students face closure

The state pre-university education (PUE) department wants to close down pre-university (PU) colleges with fewer than 20 students.

The PUE department is currently identifying such colleges in the state. Sources in the PUE say north Karnataka has many PU colleges that face the threat of shutting down. Already five colleges in Bidar and Yadgir districts have been shifted.

The staff and faculty of such colleges will be moved to colleges that are facing manpower crunch. “If there are other colleges within a 10km radius, we will not shift the college to other place, but will close down it and shift the staff to needy colleges,” said a PUE official.

Results of the second PU March/April examinations showed that many colleges with a 100% result had fewer than 20 students.

“The move is not restricted to government colleges. We will also take action against the government-aided and unaided PU colleges,” an official said.

There are, however, demands for new PU colleges from Chikmagalur, Udupi and Shimoga districts. “These are districts from where we are getting good results in PU examinations every year, but in higher level it has been decided not to sanction any new government PU college,” said official. Last year, the education department had identified schools with less than 10 students and closed them.