State Higher Education Director DN Ojha will be holding a meeting of State-level Steering Committee for Central Government’s proposal to develop some colleges of the five State universities as community colleges. Students are expected to learn vocational skills under the plan which will help them in grabbing jobs in public and private sectors easily.
Talking to The Pioneer, Ojha said three months ago, except Ranchi University (RU) all the four universities namely Nilamber Pitamber University (NPU), Sido Kanhu Murmu University (SKMU), Kolhan University (KU) and Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) have shown interest.
“University Grants Commission (UGC) wants to develop 10 colleges of each university as community colleges. We have been directed to send the names of the colleges by April 30. Representatives of the five universities have been called for a discussion on the issue on Friday. We will also hold meetings with Industries and Tribal units for their approval on the matter immediately after the discussion,” Ojha added.
Presently, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Polytechnic College at Dhanbad (VBU), AS College at Deoghar (SKMU) and Tata College at Chaibasa (KU) has been signed for the community college set up.
Sources maintained a Hazaribagh based Polytechnic College of VBU is also covered in the plan. “UGC will provide a large amount of budget for setting the community colleges here. Unfortunately, rare universities are turning up for query. We hope that the upcoming meeting will result to positive feedback,” Ojha told The Pioneer.
Besides, the plan, the Higher Education department is also working on making changes in section 321 (3) for teacher’s recruitment in the five mentioned state universities. “Prior to the Monsoon Assembly Session, we will amend the section through an ordinance. This will help the JPSC in beginning the recruitment for university teachers. Presently, it is on halt as university teachers cannot be absorbed as government servants under section 320. We are replacing it with section 321 (3) which says non-government individuals can be absorbed as university teachers,” said Ojha.