Non-government colleges join private colleges in boycotting

Announcing the boycott decision at a press conference here, the two federations’ joint 31-member action committee convener Ashwini Kumar Sharma said the onus of jeopardising the future of students would lie on the Punjab government if it did not release the outstanding grants of Rs 34 crore to the colleges and did not withdraw its threat of freezing and then reducing grants to zero level over a period, aimed at forcing the managements to shut down the colleges which cater to 80 per cent of the total college and university students in Punjab. Sharma alleged that a deadlock between the state government and the teachers was created by Finance Secretary Rajan Kashyap during their meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on March 15 to discuss the matter.

Action committee convener Ashwini Kumar Sharma, however, said the federations would again try to meet the Chief Minister to impress upon him the need to divest Kashyap of the charge of the finance department for "misguiding him" on the issue which, he said, would not only jeopardise the future of students but render Punjab intellectually bankrupt because the government did not have the logistics to cater to higher education.

Ashwani Kumar Sharma said private colleges were ready to raise tuition fee to generate more funds, provided the government colleges and universities, too, raised the same and bring parity in the tuition fee.

He alleged that the government wanted private college managements to raise tuition fee from the present Rs 25 to Rs 30 per month to about Rs 420 per month. He said this was not practicable as parents could not afford such a steep hike in the tuition fee.

Sharma asked the government if it could create the Rs 4,000 crore worth of infrastructure built by private colleges over the years, overnight, to cater to 80 per cent of the college-going student strength in Punjab.

He said the Principals’ Federation have already informed registrars of three universities in Punjab and Chandigarh of their inability to receive question papers and to act as examination controllers in view of the "obstinate attitude" of the government dictated by bureacracy, which has equated education with industry by dubbing grants as subsidy.

Action committee convener Ashwini Kumar Sharma said while the state government owed Rs 10 crore to private colleges during the fiscal 1997-98, the current fiscal’s outstandings amounted to Rs 24 crore, till this month. Only Rs 67 crore of the total grant of Rs 91 crore has been released by the government so far, he said.