CM, Rijiju inaugurate permanent campus of Bomdila Govt College
BOMDILA, 17 Nov: Chief Minister Pema Khandu, along with Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the permanent campus of the Bomdila Government College on Tuesday in the presence of state’s Education Minister Taba Tedir and the legislators of West Kameng district.
The new permanent college campus is situated in the outskirts of West Kameng district’s headquarter Bomdila in a plot of 70 acres. Established in 1988, the college had been running from a building of the government higher secondary school here.
Khandu said the newly created infrastructure in a perfect ambience at a distance from the town would encourage the students to focus more on education.
He said the government is aware of the shortfalls both in manpower and infrastructure of the 19 government colleges in the state, which are all affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University.
“Besides the 19 government colleges, which cater to more than 15,000 students, we have nine private colleges and two technical institutions, NERIST and NIT,” he said.
The chief minister said that at present 478 assistant professors are teaching in the 19 government colleges, whereas about 400 more are needed. There is also a shortage of about 110 staffers in these colleges, he said.
He directed the education commissioner to personally process for recruitment of the said manpower by bringing it up on file in the Cabinet meeting due to be held in December.
“We will take up the matter in the next Cabinet and approve recruitment of the required manpower through the state Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Board,” Khandu assured.
To the demands for proper internal roads in the campus, enhancement of intake capacity of the boys’ and girls’ hostels and introduction of science stream, he called upon the authorities concerned to process for the same and submit as soon as possible to the government for further action and approval.
The chief minister acknowledged the request for college buses as the new campus is at about 6-7 km away from the main town and caters to more than 700 students.
Khandu said that his wife, being a former student of the college, has offered to provide any kind of support or help for it.
“As a payback to her alma mater she has decided to donate a bus for the college,” he announced, while also adding that another bus will be provided by the state government.
Reiterating the state government’s commitment to improve the education scenario of the state, Khandu said the year 2021 has been declared as the ‘Year of Education.’
Stating that the number of government schools has increased from only three since independence to more than 3000 today, he said the quality in education hasn’t witnessed the desired rise.
The chief minister said that the state government is closing down all schools with zero enrollments.
“We have so far closed down about 400 such schools with zero enrollments across the state and decided to select one school in each of the 60 assembly constituencies to be developed as model schools with all facilities,” he said.
The chief minister called upon the community based organizations to visit their areas and recommend which schools may be shut down and which ones in a periphery can be clubbed into one.
“Let’s club schools situated not far from each other into one and focus on its development with proper infrastructure and sufficient teachers,” he added.
Legislators Phurpa Tsering, Kumsi Sidisow, DW Kharma and Dongru Siongju were present on the occasion. (CM’s PR cell)
