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Time of India
06-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
For cash-strapped colleges, security often last and least concern
1 2 3 Kolkata: The lack of allocated funds for safety-security enhancement has emerged as a major concern among college principals. Installing CCTVs and hiring private security personnel pose significant financial challenges to several state-aided colleges, said principals, prompting them to depend on netas for funding. Several principals highlighted that revenue previously generated from selling admission forms was discontinued after the pandemic, making it difficult to allocate funds for infrastructure development. While some colleges receiving RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan) funds utilise them for infrastructure upgrade, a principal of a North 24 Parganas college said, "For availing RUSA funds, NAAC accreditation is mandatory. Gradually, colleges are becoming more serious about NAAC visits. Otherwise, we have to depend on student fees. But the number of students is decreasing, which is a major problem across colleges. We have to work under pressure, both financial and political. Sometimes we even have to contact local MPs and MLAs to get funds for development, and in the process, we have to tolerate their interference." Also, they must submit proposals to the govt for special occasion funding, such as purchasing instruments for laboratory or books for library. Principals highlighted that such proposals take months to be cleared by the dept. A principal said, "We aim for RUSA funds, which amount to Rs 1 crore-Rs 2 crore and help us enhance infrastructure. But it takes time for the funds to finally arrive. We now have to allocate funds for security enhancement as well. Security staff we hire from private agencies also need to be paid by the college. We install CCTVs but maintenance is costly. The recurring costs are only rising. With limited funds, how can we allocate money for security purposes?" Several principals said additional funding for security purposes was also stopped after 2022. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Some principals said delayed recruitment of Group C and D staff has forced many of them to rely on contractual employees. "Here, former influential students get appointments to maintain control over administrative work," said a principal. According to a professor of a north Kolkata college, they currently have six ex-students working as casual staff. "Though they had to appear for a written test and interview, they were given advantages in appointment," he said. Former principal Purna Chandra Maiti said, "When I was the principal, I wrote letters to the govt for regular staff. The college from which I retired is running with a vacancy of 32 non-teaching posts."
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kerala govt. to establish model degree college in Wayanad
The Kerala Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to establish a new government model degree college in Wayanad. The institution will come up on a five-acre plot of land at Thrissilery village in Mananthavady, which has been transferred from the General Education department for the purpose. According to Higher Education Minister R. Bindu, the initiative is bound to boost higher education in the Malabar region. The college will be set up under the Centrally sponsored Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme and will offer five new academic courses. Necessary non-teaching posts will also be created to support the administration and functioning of the college, she added.
