Monday 24 June 2013

Delhi BJP sets up agenda for higher education under “Delhi Declaration 2013”

  •  Delhi BJP’s report on higher education proposes relaxation in cut off marks for Delhi students
  •  Extend reach of prestigious DU colleges to other states, better hostel facilities for students outside Delhi
  • BJP will ensure affordable and world class education for all Delhi students in the city: Goel
New Delhi, 24th June, 2013. The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party today released special report on “State of Higher Education” in Delhi as a part of “Delhi Declaration 2013.” The report explains the deteriorating state of affairs in the field of higher education and enlists the corrective steps proposed to be taken by the BJP when it comes to power in Delhi.

After releasing the report, the Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel outlined the key features of the Delhi BJP’s agenda for “Higher Education in Delhi.” “We suggest a provision of a 2 to 4 per cent relaxation in cut off marks in admission to undergraduate courses in Delhi University for all the students passing out class XII from any of the Delhi schools. This would be applicable to all the students passing out from Delhi schools whether their families are domiciles of Delhi or not. This can be implemented immediately in atleast Delhi government’s colleges in DU.” 

“The objective of this proposed measure is to provide relief to lakhs of parents in Delhi whose wards do not get admission in DU and are forced to go to other states to study often paying exorbitant fees in private colleges and staying in unsafe conditions in private accommodations.”

The report also suggests providing more hostel accommodations for students coming from outside Delhi in DU as a large number of them are being compelled to stay in unsafe private accommodations paying high rents.

The report also suggests that to reduce the pressure of students applying from other states in DU, prestigious institutions like SRCC, St. Stephens College, LSR College, Hindu College and many other such colleges can open their branches in neighboring states. This would allow many students from other states to study in these prestigious institutions in their own states. It will reduce the number of applicants in DU from other states and hence provide more opportunities to Delhi students to study in their own city.

With around 2 lakh students passing out their class XII examinations from Delhi every year, the opportunities for affordable higher education for students in the Capital have come under severe strain as the number of seats offered for various undergraduate courses have remained stagnant for many years owing to lack of any initiative on the part of Congress government in Delhi.

There are 54000 undergrduate seats in DU. With the Delhi government not opening any new college over the last 15 years and over a lakh students applying from other states, the Delhi students are hardly able to get even 50 per cent of the seats in DU.

One of the immediate steps that would be initiated by the BJP when it comes to power in Delhi is to start evening classes in all the morning colleges in DU.

Shri Goel said, “The BJP also has plans to open a new online university in Delhi as online education is one of the fastest and most convenient ways of getting higher education world over. In addition we propose to link higher education with skill development to make education employment oriented. The BJP plans to bring prestigious institutions like Harvard Univeristy and LSE to Delhi. With such globally acknowledged institutions setting up campuses here, Delhi students won’t have to go abroad to study and they can get benefitted by world class education in the city itself at affordable prices.”

Delhi has the potential of becoming a world class affordable hub for education. The BJP had set up the Directorate of Higher Education in 1997 when it was in power. It also set up the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University which is catering to thousands of students. However, the Congress government failed to capitalise on this momentum and completely neglected the field of higher education. This is evident from the fact that the option of getting admission in a good college and a studying a course of one’s choice is not available to most of the students in Delhi.

The Delhi BJP leadership strongly believes that a strong political will, right intention and innovative solutions are required to set the things right. But the current Congress government lacks all three. Fourteen and a half years is a long time for any government to deliver and Congress government has failed miserably in this regard. 

“Higher Education” is one of the top priorities for the BJP. In a unique initiative, the party had launched admission helpline for DU applicants in first week of June. It also distributed more than 25000 admission information booklets free of cots to students and their parents for DU admission through student help centers set up by its youth wing across the city over the last four weeks. More than 10,000 students have been helped by BJP’s DU admission helpline so far. The helpline, which was started on 5 June, will continue till 30 June.

No comments:

Post a Comment

test message