HT Digital,
Guwahati, March 1: Assam Education Minister, Ranoj Pegu, clarified in a press conference that there are no plans to merge colleges with low enrollment. The conference addressed concerns over the decreasing Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in Assam’s higher education institutions.
Pegu announced that all government and non-government higher education institutions must upload updated student enrollment data to the All India Survey on Higher Education portal. He revealed that the GER in 2020-2021 was 17 percent, which fell to 16 percent in 2021-2022, labeling the state’s higher education as ‘backward’.
Pegu attributed this decline to several colleges and universities failing to submit relevant information, leading to the suspension of several teachers’ salaries. He confirmed that all institutions have now submitted the data and the teachers’ salaries have been released.
Pegu also dismissed rumors of college closures and proposed a cluster system where neighboring colleges are grouped together, allowing students to access additional courses within the same cluster.
He stated that the education department plans to increase the number of hostels at these institutions. On platform ‘X’, Pegu wrote, ‘We’re boosting enrollments through college clustering, faculty sharing, transitioning to co-ed, expanding hostels, and student counseling in HS Schools.’
