Bukhari backs demand for university in Ladakh

Srinagar, November 8

Senior PDP leader and former Finance and Education Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday supported the demand for the establishment of a full-fledged university in Ladakh with its headquarters in Kargil.

Bukhari said the Kashmir University’s satellite campus in Ladakh region was vibrant in Kargil district while its campus in Leh district with almost similar infrastructural facilities remained almost deserted.

Expressing concern over the declining enrolment in Ladakh colleges that has come down drastically due to the delay in examination and declaration of results, Bukhari observed that with no full-fledged university available in Ladakh, students of the region were forced to leave their homes in pursuit of higher education.

“The government under the new education policy in the country and the state is committed to providing quality education, including higher education at the doorsteps of the students. But the successive regimes at the Centre and the state have failed to address this long-pending demand of the students of Ladakh,” he remarked, while adding that during his tenure as the Education Minister in the state, he had proposed establishment of three cluster universities for Pir-Panjal region, Chenab Valley and Ladakh. — TNS