More women specific colleges in J&K in offing, state sends proposal to centre

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, July 10: Trying to encourage encourage women literacy, Jammu and Kashmir have to sent a proposal to central government to establish Women Colleges at each district. 

According to the officials, these will be separate from the already announced Degree colleges being constructed by the state under the Prime Ministers Reconstruction Programme. Sources said that if the proposal is accepted, 90 per cent of the funds will be borne by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry while state will have to invest only 10 per cent of the money.

Officials said that the Higher Education Department is giving final touches to the proposal in this regard and the same will be placed before HRD Ministry, but the proposal will not include districts like Jammu, Srinagar, Kathua, Pulwama, Udhampur and Sopore which already have women colleges, either part of co-educational or only women specific. 

“Aim is to encourage women education as many families particularly in rural areas don’t prefer girls to study in cities, forcing many to leave education after 12th standard. It will also increase the literacy among the girls”, said Minister for Higher Education, Abdul Gani Malik. 

Malik said that they are hoping that maximum of the funds will be given by the central government.

Though women literacy has shown encouraging trend in recent years, which has reached up to 56 per cent, but drop out rate at higher education level is high approximately 30 per cent among the women. 

Sources said that the issue of separate women colleges was taken up by the State Government with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh last year and he had asked the state to submit proposal to the HRD ministry.

“Women Colleges will help us in equalising male-female ratio at higher education level and could encourage the parents to send girls to the colleges”, Malik said.

Another good news for the education sector is that after a long delay the 18 colleges, 14 of whom are being constructed under under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan (PMRP), sanctioned in 2005, will have their first academic session from this year while other 18 Degree colleges which were sanctioned in 2008 for which the land acquisition was a problem, government has identified the land.

Officials said that government has also referred the posts for these 36 colleges to Public Service Commission (PSC) and they will be filled in next few months.