Aiming to increase the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher educational institutions across the State and making it at par with the national level of 24.5, the Department of Higher and Technical Education will start bus services for girls residing in rural areas. Besides, it will also focus on increasing the facilities at college and varsity level.
HRD Minister, Neera Yadav during a press meet here on Friday said that the State Government is committed to change the scenario of higher education status in Jharkhand while boosting the services initiating from school level.
“All the colleges have been asked to submit a draft and as per the requirement of each college, the bus services will be initiated for girls’ at a nominal cost for this academic session living in interior regions,” said the Minister. According to the report of AISHE (2016), the GER of the State was 15.5, while the national record for 2016 is 24.5. The State has shown 85 per cent increase in GER as Jharkhand had earlier registered 8.4 GER in 2011-2012.
Also, to fill the existing gap of student-teacher ratio, the department has initiated the procedure for appointing Professors and Associate Professors. The Department of Higher and Technical Education, Secretary, Ajoy Kumar Singh said that within three months, all the vacant posts will be filled up as Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) has commenced the recruitment process. “From August 2017, all the selected candidates will be called for an interview for the posts of Professors and Associate Professors. For the first time JPSC is conducting interviews,” added Singh.
The Secretary said that attempts are also being made to appoint Assistant Professors from this academic session. Statutes are being formulated as per the University Grant Commission (UGC) norms. “As soon as regulations are made, notification will be published by JPSC. For the moment, appointment of professors on contractual basis will help in bridging the gap,” Singh said.
Following the UGC norms on contractual professors’ recruitment where 20 per cent teaching faculty can be appointed on ad-hoc basis, the department has decided to pay Rs. 600 to a teacher per class appointed on contract. In a month’s time, a teacher can take 60 classes. On a monthly basis, Rs. 36,000 has been fixed by the department for all contractual teachers.
In addition, the work of 30 colleges’ project at different districts is on the verge of completion. Notably, the State government has sanctioned 11 colleges for female candidates at different districts while at seven constituencies, degree colleges will be established soon. Meanwhile, all private universities are under the radar of State government. Those private universities that has signed MoU with the State government has to procure land in two years for setting permanent campus, failing to which stringent action will be taken against the private varsity officials.
Similarly, boosting the School Education and literacy Department initiatives for curbing the dropout rate, the State government will soon launch ‘College Chalein Abhiyaan’ for all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) girls. Also, after making text books available in five tribal languages and two regional dialects, the School Education Department will provide books in Urdu language also for all the subjects.