No amalgamation or merger; clustering of colleges mulled: State Education Minister Ranoj Pegu

Guwahati: State Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said on Friday that there will be no amalgamation or merger of colleges with low or poor enrolment, but they will be clustered.

A cluster of colleges is a group of colleges that are located close together. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed clustering of colleges for multidisciplinary learning. This is to promote multi-disciplinary education and research in online and offline modes. Colleges with poor enrollment and fewer resources may benefit from forming clusters with other institutions. This will enable students at these colleges to access better facilities as well as avail innovative courses.

Pegu said the education department has found 69 colleges that have enrollments below 500 students. These comprise one government Sanskrit college, eight model colleges, and 60 provincialised colleges. He said, “We are going to take steps to improve enrolment in these colleges by boosting enrolment through college clustering, faculty sharing, transitioning into co-educational institutions, expanding hostels, and student counselling in higher secondary schools. In colleges, the pupil-teacher ratio should be 14:1. But in these colleges, some departments have a PTR below 10:1. So, these departments will be clustered. Already, clustering of colleges is taking place in many states, and we are also thinking of doing the same, as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. We have witnessed poor enrolment in girls’ colleges, so making them co-educational may result in more student enrolment. We have, therefore, sought the recommendation of the college management committees on this issue. Moreover, we are planning to build more hostels to increase enrollment. Also, we are mulling the introduction of job-oriented courses in colleges, with the aim of empowering students with skills so that they get employment upon leaving college.”

“The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in Assam is very poor, as compared to the national average. According to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), 2021–22, which was published recently, the GER in Assam is 16.9%, against the national GER of 28.4%. In 2020–21, the GER in Assam for higher education was 17.3%. The state government is not at all happy with the performance of Assam, and the education department held a series of meetings and conducted training courses to improve the situation. The main reason for the low GER in Assam is attributed to the non-uploading of current data on the AISHE portal. That is why the chief minister directed the Finance Department to withhold the salaries of all employees of the institutions until the upload of complete and current data on the AISHE portal. Following this, the Finance Department issued a directive yesterday to all treasuries not to release the employees’ salaries for the month of February,” he further said.

“The Directorate of Higher Education has informed us that the remaining higher educational institutions have uploaded their data to the portal. Due to this, the total enrollment has increased by 70,000. So, the salaries of the employees will no longer be withheld,” Pegu added.

It is being planned that the GER under NEP should be brought to the level of 50% so that India comes within the top five countries. On top of this, the Assam government is also targeting a similar GER in higher education.

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