-Galla S Kiran Kumar,Bureau Chief Telagana (Andhra Pradesh)
With the single major subject system being introduced in the degree from this academic year, the government degree colleges have been shut down.
The commissionerate reducing single major subjects
is taking away opportunities for poor students, the government is making
decisions to move students to private colleges.
Today, Amaravati: Due to the single major subject system being introduced in the degree from this academic year, government degree colleges have been shut down. This policy hastily brought by the Higher Education Council without any study is now curtailing the opportunities of poor students. In the name of shortage of teachers, single major subjects are being reduced in government degree colleges. While opportunities should be provided to students in all subjects… these are being limited to a few. Due to this, the students have to go beyond the districts to study in some subjects. While bringing up the single major subject, the Higher Education Council revealed that opportunities are being provided in 54 major and 53 minor subjects, and apart from these, there will be another 45 minor subjects that will provide employment in the market.
If there are no teachers for these in the colleges, the higher education boards will teach them online, she said. But, existing subjects are being deleted in government colleges. The Commissionerate of College Education has brought a requirement of minimum 25 students to introduce a single major subject. They are deciding which courses to introduce from the Commissionerate, ignoring the interest of the students. Orders have already been given to introduce only a few courses in government colleges in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitaramaraj and Visakhapatnam districts. Introduction of majors in all subjects will increase the need for faculty. Courses are being introduced in some subjects to reduce the number of teachers.
Desired study distance
Single major subject system has been introduced in the degree this year. As part of this, one subject can be studied as a major and another subject as a minor. For example, if you choose mathematics as a major subject in BSc, you can study a subject of your choice like physics, chemistry, computer science as a minor. Students should be given a wide range of options to choose from. However, opportunities are being reduced for poor students in government degree colleges. While there are six government colleges in Vizianagaram, the home district of Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, there is no opportunity to study mathematics and physics in these. Mathematics is unlikely to be studied at least as a minor subject. In a college with more than 400 students in this district, earlier there were 8 groups. There was an opportunity to study Computer Science along with Mathematics in B.Sc.
Now in the single subject system only economics, commerce, zoology and chemistry are given as major subjects. Students were deprived of the opportunity to study major subjects of mathematics, physics and computer science. A student studying economics has reduced the opportunity to study history as a minor, botany as a minor for zoology, and physics as a minor for chemistry. In this new system, the three-year degree will consist of 21 papers in the major subject. According to this calculation, four teachers will be required for the respective subject. Some colleges are withdrawing courses in science courses due to lack of faculty. With this, the existing ones are being adjusted. Commissioner of College Education Pola Bhaskar is holding special meetings and he is deciding which course to put in which college. Opportunities for students
Impact on admissions
Student enrollments in government degree colleges are already on the decline. Last year there were 57 thousand seats and only 26 thousand got admission. In such situations, there is a situation where students go to private colleges as single major subjects are reduced. There are total 12 government colleges in Srikakulam district, only two colleges have degree in mathematics as major subject. The government is trying to make students go to private colleges by depriving students of opportunities in single subjects. Most of those who come to government colleges are poor. When they should be given all kinds of opportunities, how can they restrict them to study only in some subjects. According to the new National Education Policy, there should be multiple options for students to study.
Those who study mathematics should be given a chance to learn music. There should be a plan to study two degrees simultaneously. But, government colleges are denying opportunities to students. At present, if you look at Intermediate, most of them are studying MPC. In such a situation, where do they all go if they don’t have a degree with maths and physics majors? Earlier, when there were BSC, BCom and BA groups, there were 60 seats each in various programs in BSC. Now with the change to single subject the number of seats will decrease.
