In a move to give a push to higher education, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced the opening of 11 new women colleges on the occasion of Rakshabandhan. He said that with these colleges, Haryana has become the first state in the country to have a college within a radius of 15 km.
Khattar made this announcement at a function organised at Government Postgraduate College, Sector-1, Panchkula. Along with this, the Chief Minister planted saplings and called upon people to plant trees to protect the environment on the occasion. “Education donation is the greatest donation. In view of this, 97 new colleges were set up in the last five years in the State whereas in the last 48 years only 75 Colleges were opened, he said”
He said it is a matter of coincidence that a new National Education Policy (NEP) has been announced recently. Under NEP, by the year 2030, Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education has to be increased upto 50 percent, which is currently up to 32 percent.
Khattar expressed confidence that Haryana would achieve this goal in collaboration with non-governmental committees, enlightened people of the society along with government efforts. The new education policy has given the option to choose the subject according to the skill of the student professionally from Class 6, which is the biggest feature of this policy.
“The country's first Skill Development University in Haryana has been opened in Dudhola in Palwal district under the name of Lord Vishwakarma. Currently thousands of youth are pursuing skill education in this university,” he added.
Khattar said that the new education policy would prove to be effective in the Prime Minister's direction towards creating a 'self-reliant India'. This will lead to a radical change in the field of education and it will be employable.
The Chief Minister said that this program was for the announcement of only 10 colleges, but on the request of the Minister of Women and Child Development, now 11 colleges will be opened simultaneously in the State. This is a special gift of Raksha Bandhan for our sisters and daughters.
He said that now some colleges have been opened within a radius of 15 kilometers. The government aims at to open a college in a radius of 10 km.
He called upon the people of the State that if there is a more distance college in any area, then they should bring it to the notice of the government, action will be taken immediately. Today, every Vidhan Sabha constituency from Panchkula to Nuh and Jagadhri to Dabwali has been given some colleges.
The Chief Minister said that at present there are 161 government colleges in all circles of the State, which fall in one or the other assembly constituencies. But it is surprising that not a single college was opened in Baroda Vidhan Sabha in 10 years of Congress rule. Therefore, two colleges have been opened in Baroda.
The Chief Minister said that with an aim that the educated public representatives to come in the Panchayati Raj Institutions, they fought at various forums till the court. As a result, in the year 2016, 43 percent of the women came out of the 33 percent reservation.
He said that 50 percent seats will be reserved for women in the upcoming Panchayati Raj elections. Female feticide is a stigma in society and its situation in Haryana was worse a few years ago. In view of this, the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign was launched.
Along with the government efforts, this campaign brought about meaningful results with the public cooperation and currently the sex ratio has reached 923 which was earlier only 871.