It sounds strange that a number of Government Degree Colleges are without Principals since a long time. Included in this category are some premier colleges like the Government Women’s Degree College Parade. Nearly five months have gone by when the Principal of this premier and prestigious college was given promotion and deputed at some other post. In normal course of things the senior most among the professors cadre in the Higher Education Department should have been deputed as Principal of this College. That was not the case. Government has its own norms in making selections. We are not bringing those norms into discussion but what is of public interest is that for last five months a professor has been put in charge as make shift arrangement. The incumbent has no drawing and disbursing powers under rules and the result is that the administration of the college, in absence of these powers with the functional principal, suffers obstruction. The faculties are not paid salaries in time.
This is not the only case where the college remains headless. There are a number of other colleges in Jammu region that are facing same problem. Now that we are talking about other degree colleges in Jammu region, it may also be said that in most of the colleges there is acute shortage of teaching faculties. Despite the fact that vacancies are there but these are not filled and the student community suffers. We have in one of our earlier editorials dealt at length with this subject. Education Department has been making many experiments at the cost of student community. It is so because there is not standardized education policy with the Government. There is lot of adhoc-ism in the department at various levels, In transfers, postings and promotion, many complaints are coming to the notice of the media. Even the Centre’s scheme of Sarva Shiksha Yojna which had elaborate programme of carrying literacy to every household in Kashmir has not been implemented in letter and in spirit. We would like to tell the Education Department that the time has come when it should stop making experiments at the cost of the student community. It must take decisions at its own level and then implement them without trying to pass on the buck to others.
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