U.P. set to roll out 71 new govt degree colleges in one go
In a first for Uttar Pradesh, 71 newly constructed government degree colleges are all set to kick-start functioning simultaneously with academic activities for the 2025–26 academic session from July 1.
This new session will be a special achievement for the state higher education department wherein teaching and learning will start in such a large number of degree colleges simultaneously, said officials aware of the move.
More than 40 of these new degree colleges have already been formally transferred to the UP directorate of higher education by the implementing agencies, and now the officials are busy ensuring requisite resources, including furniture and equipment for these colleges, officials added.
'Under the chief minister's announcements, 71 new government degree colleges will start functioning from the 2025–26 academic session. The process of creating teaching and non-teaching posts is in the final stage. Necessary resources are being ensured for all the new government degree colleges,' said Amit Bhardwaj, director (higher education), while confirming the move.
In these new colleges, in-principle approval has been given for a total of 1,562 posts to be filled through direct recruitment, including 1,065 posts of assistant professors, and formal orders are expected to be issued very soon, said officials.
Till regular appointments are completed for these new institutions, classes will be run by deputing teachers from other colleges. The special thing is that in accordance with the new National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, all three streams of science, commerce, and arts will be taught in these colleges.
Most of the existing172 government degree colleges already running in the state have only one or two streams, but in view of the provision of promoting inter-disciplinary studies in NEP-2020, it has been decided to run all three streams in the new colleges. That is, if a science student wants to study even Sanskrit, he/she will be given such an opportunity, explained officials.
Among the newly established colleges, two are located in Prayagraj: one women's college in Parasinpur Sikandra, Phulpur development block, and another in the Meja development block. Additionally, one college is under construction in Sirathu tehsil of Kaushambi district. Nine colleges are being built in Agra and Jhansi districts, 12 in Lucknow, 13 in Bareilly, 10 in Meerut, and four in Gorakhpur district.
Earlier, there was talk of running these new government degree colleges on the PPP model, but later the government decided to take the responsibility of running these colleges itself.
Mere three govt degree colleges were running in 1956
Records show that 169 government degree colleges have been established in the state in the last seven decades. If one looks at the data of the directorate of higher education, only three government degree colleges were operating in the state in the First Five-Year Plan (April 1951 to March 1956). At present, their number is 172—that is, 169 colleges have been established in the past seven decades, even as the forthcoming new session is set to witness 71 new government degree colleges opening simultaneously.
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