For post graduate students there are three hostels. One was gutted in a fire incident last year and it stands shifted to Zakura.
For research scholars the situation is worse. “We have just 27 functional rooms out of a total of 40 rooms. This year only five scholars could get accommodation,” said Bashir Ahmad a research scholar. “The accommodation was built during 1970’s, when the number of research scholars was between 10 to 30. Now the number of research scholars per year is around 150 and accommodation is same.”
To overcome the problem, authorities are pushing more and more students in a single room. Particularly in girls hostel, five girls are being forced to live in a single room.
Commercialisation
During the last one year there has been massive hike in various fees. On an average the admission fee for most of its courses has almost doubled, tripled in some cases.
The fee for hostel accommodation was tripled from Rs 1200 to Rs 3600, which makes outside private accommodation cheaper. In addition to it the hostel welfare fund was increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1200 per month.
“And the facilities are getting worse day by day,” said Bashir. “Cramped rooms, old furniture and matting and other such things remain.”
Last year when JNU tried to raise the fee for registration of research scholars by just Rs 100, there were protests for around one month. Ultimately they had to revoke the hike. “But here we can’t even protest as we will be simply thrashed and booked in the name of security.”
In PG classes the authorities increased the payment seats. Students term it as plain privatisation. Like in Environmental Sciences, the payment seats were increased from five to nine without any proportional increase in open seats.
B. Ed colleges
Kashmir took the lead in establishing B.Ed (teachers training) college and attracting thousands of students from within and outside. The sector met tremendous success until policies of Kashmir university marred their growth.
The university increased various fees and levied charges on these colleges such as affiliation fees.
“Earlier if a college had to pay Rs 10 lakh towards the university now it has to pay Rs 20 lakh,” said A R Khadim secretary Kashmir Valley B.ed College Association.
“Besides, every year B.ed colleges in Kashmir are forced to pay huge affiliation fee, inspection fee and interview fee, which is not a case in Jammu university,” said Khadim.
The fees hike and late result declaration have hit Kashmir’s B.ed colleges badly. “It was a big sector with 68 colleges in valley and each college providing employment to 30-35 persons,” said Khadim. “But now due to financial crunch we are also forced to downsize and students are thinking twice before joining colleges in Kashmir due to excessive time consumption.”
On the other-side of the Banihal Tunnel the situation is entirely different. The B.Ed. colleges started in 1997 and now they have outnumbered Kashmir and increasing too. “In Jammu everybody works in unison to promote entrepreneurship and help society, but here it is just the opposite,” said an insider. There are 74 B.Ed. colleges affiliated with Jammu University earning billions for the region.
Jammu University has been progressing leaps and bounds. It was established in 1969 by an Act of Jammu & Kashmir Assembly. The University is already granted four star status by National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India. University of Jammu is the first in India to be given ISO-9001 certification.
According to www.4icu.org Kashmir University has the rank of distant 86 among the top 100 universities of India, while as University of Jammu is placed at 78.
