After successfully increasing percentage of student attendance in colleges and universities, the higher education department is planning to introduce a compulsion of 80 per cent attendance for the students.
Informing about the plan of his Government during a programme organised at Doon university recently, Rawat said the strict measures have resulted in an increase of percentage of attendance from 42 to 60 in the institutions of higher education in the State.
He added the State Government has ensured that 90 per cent of the faculty positions are occupied. The Minister accepted that now the challenge is to bring the students to the classrooms.
He said the Government of India has decided to provide budget of Rs 1,000 Crore to top 20 institutes of higher education in the country and for it Uttarakhand has decided to make efforts to bring at least four institutes in the elite category of top 20 institutes.
“We have earmarked IIT Roorkee, Garhwal university, Kumaon university and Doon university for this endeavour,’’ he said.
The Minister said a campaign ‘Green campus, Clean campus’ would be launched on the 150th birth anniversary of father of nation Mahatma Gandhi in all the universities and colleges of the State.
“In the campaign the students would plant saplings and take care of it to ensure that they grow into trees. The teachers would provide tree guards for these saplings. Our aim is to make the campus clean and green with participation of students and staff,’’ he said.
The Minister claimed that that Uttarakhand has the highest percentage of students seeking higher education and even the number of girls entering the institutes of higher education in the State is highest in the country.