Karnataka Higher Education dept rejects proposal for tribal varsity

The Department of Higher Education has rejected a proposal to set up a tribal university in the state.

The Department of Kannada and Culture had proposed the tribal university in order to encourage further studies and research on tribal communities.

The Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) rejected the proposal at its recent general body meeting. Instead, it was decided to offer courses or subjects related to tribals at the existing Janapada (Folklore) University.

The idea of starting a tribal university was based on recommendations by a Cabinet sub-committee. An expert committee headed by Dr R Balasubramaniam, founder of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, was constituted for the purpose.

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Study chair

However, it was opined that there was no need for a separate university. “Instead, the committee said a study chair can be constituted in any of the existing universities,” a senior KSHEC official said.

“The expert committee also pointed out that reservation in education for the tribal community and a tribal community study centre were already functional at the Kuvempu University,” the official added.

Karnataka has a tribal (STs) population of 42,48,987, according to the All India Survey for Higher Education report for 2018-19.

“The total number of students belonging to this community is around 1.5 lakh and there is no need to set up a separate university for this number,” the expert committee report said.

The Janapada University will be instructed to offer courses tribal courses from the next academic year, officials said.