Karnataka: Govt PU colleges lose 35k admissions to private ones

Kalaburagi: Admissions to first year PUC in government colleges have dropped by nearly 35,000 since 2022-23, while enrolment in private colleges has increased by the same number, leading to closure of some government PU colleges over the years.

Government PU college lecturers are making door-to-door visits and offering free admissions to their colleges, which have become less attractive due to low pass percentage, lack of adequate lecturers and poor infrastructure.

There are more than 3,600 private PU colleges against 1,338 government colleges in the state and over the last 15 years, more private colleges have got permission. With around 5,000 lecturer vacancies, many government PU colleges are relying on guest lecturers.

While government PU college admissions rose by more than 62,000 in 2021-22 as the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board passed all SSLC students in the Covid-19 year, they gradually decreased in the last four years as students moved to private colleges.

Maski Government PU College in-charge principal Tippanna Kolli said he had to go door-to-door and distribute pamphlets and display banners in around 50 villages to attract students amid competition from private colleges. He said he is unable to give justice to students as lecturers are being deputed to other colleges amid staff crunch. He said the science stream in his college was stopped due to lack of admissions.

“Most government colleges are in remote, rural areas and their enrolments are declining due to lack of bus services and facilities like drinking water and toilets. Only 40 students are studying in our college this year against 250 in 2010. Private colleges attract students with scholarships and concessions,” he said.

Subhas Natikar, principal of Yalasangi Government PU College, Aland, said he has no time for teaching since he was given additional charge of Madiyal PU college. Lack of non-teaching staff and facilities has hit admissions, he said.

“Parents of meritorious SSLC students in the government high school are not willing to continue them in government PU college though both are housed on the same premises. Admissions have reduced to 165 this year against 450 in 2017 as students are being attracted to private colleges,” said Venugopal, the principal of Kodigehalli Government PU College in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Public Schools

Minister for School and Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa said that around 75 Adarsha Vidyalayas in Karnataka have been upgraded to include PU education to increase admissions. Admitting that government PU colleges faced problems of infrastructure and teacher shortage, he said more than 800 lecturers will be recruited soon.

Pointing out that the state government is upgrading around 500 Karnataka Public Schools by including PU education, the minister said this will enable government school students to continue college in the same premises instead of looking for private colleges.

“Measures would be taken to increase the admissions to government PU colleges in the next 2-3 years after upgrading Karnataka Public Schools apart from integrating PU Board and DDPI as one cluster. I am also ready to recruit 18,000 teachers including government PU college lecturers and waiting for recommendations from Justice H N Nagamohand Das, who heads the Commission to collect data for classification of internal reservation among Scheduled Castes,” the minister said.