Two years on, Morni college sans building

Sanjay Bumbroo

Panchkula, September 18

Even two years after Morni Government College was started at Haryana’s lone hill station, falling in the Kalka Assembly segment, the state government seems to have forgotten to provide basic infrastructure or requisite teaching staff there.

According to information, the BJP government had sanctioned a graduate college in October 2020, but failed to provide a building or teaching staff. As a result, temporary classes are being run from the Government Polytechnic building with only 30 students and a lone teacher.

Vijay Bansal, president, Shivalik Vikas Manch, has written to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar demanding appointment of teachers and construction of a college building.

At present, only 30 students are enrolled in the three-year BA course. The principal, a professor of psychology, is the lone appointee at the college. The college had come as a hope for families of nearby villages in this backward area who could not afford to send their children to far-off places for studies. Due to lack of facilities, most of the local students are forced to pursue higher education in Panchkula, Chandigarh or Ambala colleges, says Bansal.

Not only boys and girls from the area, but also those from adjoining Himachal would have benefited from the college, he says.

“The state government only keeps promising of providing higher education facilities to area residents, but ground reality is entirely different,” he says.

“I had suggested holding of classes in the vacant hostel building of Morni JBT (DEd) College till the new building came up, but the government did not pay heed. With no inmates, the hostel building is slowly falling into ruin,” he says.

A large number of students from nearby areas visit Morni for admission, but have to return dejected as there is no college building or hostel facility. Due to the lackadaisical approach of the government and Education Department, students from remote areas are being deprived of quality education, he adds.

Rajiv Rattan, Director, Higher Education, could not be reached for comment.

On his part, the Education Minister said he was not aware of the issue, adding he would seek information about the college and initiate necessary steps.