Now, govt wants to take over crisis-ridden aided PU colleges

The state government is planning to take over the crisis-ridden ‘aided PU colleges’ with fewer admissions. It has invited applications from the aided colleges with good infrastructure and is willing to hand them over to the government.

Officials in the PU Department told DH that the salaries of the teaching staff at the aided colleges are paid by the government and taking over such colleges will not be a huge burden. “Instead of spending on infrastructure to set up a new college, we have decided to take over the colleges which are willing to hand over the control to the government as it will avoid expenses on creating fresh infrastructure,” said an official from the department.

There are over 797 aided PU colleges across the state. Of which, some colleges have lost demand during the last two years due to the pandemic.

“As the salaries of a section of the teaching staff are being paid by the government it would not be difficult to take over. But the government has to shell out funds for the rest of the things including land, building and other infrastructure,” added an official. He further mentioned that in most cases the land has been given by the government on lease.

The government had announced April 4 as the deadline for the colleges to submit applications. But as per the details available from the department, not a single college has submitted an application so far.

Speaking to DH a management representative of an aided college said, “Many aided colleges are trying to become independent by getting the government aid cancelled. Becoming unaided will help colleges to be financially strong as they can charge fees.” Arun Shahapur, MLC, said the government should take over colleges with below-par infrastructure and develop them, instead of looking for those with good infrastructure.

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