Modified order gives colleges new life

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JUNE 27. The Government has gone back on its order to close down general degree courses and colleges without sufficient number of students and reverted to the earlier guidelines, giving them a fresh lease of life. The decision has ended the apprehensions of both teachers and students.

According to the modified order issued on Tuesday by the Directorate of Collegiate Education changing in part the order of May 9, an institution can continue with a course or combination if it had a minimum of 15 students per class. It will be the revival of the earlier guidelines.

The May 9 order, which was conveyed to the institutions on Wednesday last, said they had to close down courses or combinations ``if the combined student strength is less than 120 for all the three years'' (that is 40 per class).

Further, a concession has also been given to colleges in rural areas where it is difficult to secure adequate number of students. The enforcement of the order on minimum student strength would have led to the closure of three colleges and affected 18 others.

The Government has also modified the stipulation that the teachers in degree colleges should have obtained Ph.D. or M.Phil. degrees or passed the National Eligibility Test (NET). Now, seniority will be the criterion for allocating the faculty.

The Minister of State for Information, Prof. B.K.Chandrashekar, announced the modified order at a press conference here on Wednesday.

He noted that as a result of the new order, no college or combination in any college could be closed down. The change in the guidelines was necessitated by the adverse reaction to the May 9 order from teachers, managements and also students.

An official press release said: ``Earlier a decision was taken to close combinations where the combined student strength is less than 120 for all three years. Now, Government has revived the existing guidelines, i.e., 15 students per combination (example 15 in PCM, 15 in PCB and 15 in PSM).

This will ensure that there is no hardship either to students or to faculty. Further, no combination will be closed in a college, if it is the only college in the village or town, and if the nearest college is more than 10 km away or even less, this is flexible.''

On the modification in the qualifications prescribed for degree college teachers, the note says: ``Earlier, the Government had decided to assign faculty to degree colleges on the basis of academic qualifications i.e., Ph.D., M.Phil. and NET. Now this has been modified. Seniority will be the criterion for allocating faculty. This will definitely assuage the concerns of senior faculty.'' It further says that the Government Order does not adversely affect rural students.

The Government has, however, said it is difficult to justify the continuation of courses in colleges where the enrollment is as low as nine or 10 for all the three years. Public funds are involved, and they have to be put to optimum use without adversely affecting students or faculty.

After issuing an order on May 9, 2001 on bifurcation, the Directorate had discussed the modalities with the managements and principals of colleges.

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