Chandigarh, April 14
Malwa’s hinterland is undergoing a change thanks to neighbourhood campuses set up by Punjabi University, Patiala. Educationally, the countryside of Mansa and Bathinda districts is the most backward region in Punjab.
However, a new awakening has begun among people of the region. More and more panchayats are coming forward to get neighbourhood campuses set up in their villages. Panchayats have offered free land worth crores of rupees to set up such a campus in their respective areas. Already, campuses with modern courses have been set up at Rampura Phul, Sardulgarh, Karandi, Jhunir, Rallah and Delha Sihan in the Mansa-Bathinda belt. For setting up these colleges, people have donated 300 acres worth Rs 100 crore to the university since S.S. Boparai took over as its vice-chancellor.
The hope of seeing their wards fit into the modern job market has been a motivating factor for village folk to do something worthwhile on the academic front. And the drive by Boparai to promote quality education in the rural areas has made things easy for ruralites.
On the neighbourhood campus set up at Rampura Phul, there are 74 students enrolled in the bachelor of computer application (BCA) course, 155 in the postgraduate diploma in computer application course and 15 in the postgraduate diploma in dress designing course. There are three
laboratories with 40 computers on the campus. The college of engineering set up there has a six-year integrated engineering course. At present, in the plus one class, there are 91 students and in the plus 2 as many as 109 in the engineering college. After passing the plus two class, they will be admitted to various courses in the engineering college.
“We have not taken any grant from any commercial or government organisation to establish these institutes”, says Boparai, adding that the university has carried out this formidable task in its own humble way to take higher education to the doorstep of ruralites. “ It is a known fact that in the past few years the percentage of rural students in institutions of higher education has gone down for various
reasons. The neighbourhood campus will address their problems to some extent and help increase the share of rural students in modern courses”, says Boparai.
Punjabi University has made a provision of reservation of 50 per cent of the seats for students from the subdivision where the campus is set up .The remaining seats (excluding the central quota) are filled from the other rural areas of Punjab. In consonance with the national policy, the university has made a provision to fill 15 per cent of the total seats from the rural areas of the rest of the country.
“ Our primary obligation is to foster academic, intellectual and scholastic standards. The university has been making a genuine effort for the uplift of rural society”, says Boparai. “ All campuses have computer labs”, he adds.
On the Sardulgarh neighbourhood campus 11 students have been admitted to the postgraduate diploma course in computer application(PGDCA) and the certificate course in computer application (CCA). As many as 19 students on the Karandi campus have been admitted to these courses. At Karandi, 15 students have been admitted to the bachelor of computer application course (BCA). At Delha Shian, near Moonak, 19 students have enrolled in these courses. On the Jhunir campus, near Mansa, 51 students have been admitted. Of the 51 students, 22 are doing MBA. At Rallah, near Mansa, 50 students have enrolled in the PGDCA and CCA
courses.
