Jalandhar/Amritsar: The apex executive body of Non-Govt. Colleges’ Managements Federation of Punjab and Chandigarh (NGCMF) today (April 2) declared not to fill vacant DPI posts of College teachers in Punjab under 75 per cent grants scheme in the future, in protest against the ‘dictatorial attitude’ of Punjab Education Department officials.
They said the scheme had been diluted arbitrarily without consulting stakeholders and demanded the implementation of a full-fledged 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme in all 142 colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh.
Following their joint meeting with the representatives of three Principals’ Association of Colleges affiliated to state universities in Punjab at DAV College, Jalandhar, they said the diluted Grant in Aid scheme by the state government has squarely hit the finances of the aided Colleges. Higher education is under stress and many colleges in Punjab are on the verge of closure but instead of providing olive branch to colleges, the government is hell-bent upon to destroy the institutions of higher learning.
While congratulating the new regime of the AAP government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the office bearers of the colleges’ representative body sought the intervention of the CM and Education Minister and asked them to look into this grim situation which is detrimental to the higher education. “We welcome the state government’s positive involvement in higher education and are open to reforms. But the arbitrary decisions by top officials of the education department are pushing the education to devastation”, said NGCMF President Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina in a press statement issued here.
Principals poured their hearts out regarding their humiliation, maltreatment and harassment by the education department and DPI. The house, after listening to the voices of concern regarding bullying by government machinery stated that Principals are torch-bearers of society and their disrespect is intolerable. “So pathetic is the situation that the official orders are being conveyed through telephonic conversation, SMS and WhatsApp chat”, said Chhina as the body his chairmanship resolved to entertain only written orders from education department and DPI.
Earlier Federation had asked all the Colleges’ Managements to refrain from calling government nominees to its meetings, which is an attack on the autonomy of the colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh. It was also decided that appropriate time should be given to the Principals for attending official meetings and prior agenda be issued for such meetings by the department of Education, Government of Punjab.
Chhina along with general secretary SM Sharma, finance secretary Rakesh Kumar Dhir and Advisor Ravinder Nath Joshi also announced that they were in the process to challenge the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Act, 2021, passed by previous Congress government in state as some of its clauses were draconian in nature with government getting arbitrary powers of intervention which will further hit autonomy of the Colleges.
The body also called upon the state government to “save higher education” which is facing huge losses due to the flight of students to foreign countries. The aided colleges have played a historic role in imparting education for over a century now and are an extended arm of the state government to education society. They also criticized centralized admission system in the Colleges, which will badly affect the working and finances of the Aided Colleges. The issues include pending DPI grants, implementing 95% grant-in-aid schemes instead of 75% for appointment of teachers, repealing the reservation policy, clear distinction in the functioning of colleges and universities, immediate release of the pending Post-Matric Scholarships amounts to the Colleges for SC Students, waiving of road tax for vehicles owned by colleges and better coordination of state universities were also discussed in detail during the meeting.
Rajiv Jain, Aman Kullar, Dr. SS Thind, Principal Tarsem Singh, Principal Dr. Pardeep Bhandari, Principal Dr. Mehal Singh, Principal Rajesh Kumar, Dr. Ajay Sareen, Dr. Rajwinder Kaur, Dr. Meena Kumari and V.P Bedi, Prof. Sahil Kumar Uppal, Principal Jasvir Singh, Dr. Jagraj Singh Gill, DS Rataul were present in the meeting.
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