Severe hostel crunch affects thousands of students in Dharwad district
Hubballi: Dharwad, known as 'Vidyakashi' for its academic atmosphere, is facing an acute shortage of govt hostels.
While 99 hostels currently exist, they are inadequate for the lakhs of students who flock here from across north Karnataka.
Last year alone, over 67,000 students were denied hostel accommodation. The district administration has now proposed 44 new hostels—22 each for boys and girls—to address the gap.
Gangadhar Badiger, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), stated that the scarcity of hostels is an old issue in the district.
"Existing seats are being allotted only on the recommendation of elected representatives," he alleged.
Shashikala Meti, Secretary, AIDSO, Dharwad district, observed that girls are major victims of the situation. "Denial of seats for girls is discouraging them from getting a better education. Many of them are travelling from distant towns and villages by changing 2-3 buses. There has been a common opinion that girls can travel by bus utilising the Shakti scheme," she analysed.
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Sources in the district administration said that last year 35,255 students applied for hostel seats. "Currently, 15,285 seats are allotted in the existing 99 hostels. However, the number of colleges, including PU, polytechnic, degree, vocational, and universities, is 245, and 99,174 students were admitted there in 2024-25. As many as 18,910 students were denied seat in hostels. This year, the number may go up by 30%," they added.
Deputy commissioner Divya Prabhu GRJ said that a detailed proposal is submitted to the govt and they are waiting for the sanction of additional hostels.
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