SRINAGAR: Ideally, everybody is happy that the boys and girls who have been out of secondary schools have finally been to colleges. They are actually attending colleges daily and most of the crowd that is in the markets in the mornings and late afternoons comprises them.

Principal Secretary Higher Education Department (HED), Rohit Kansal at the two-day Conference on ‘NEP-2020: Preparedness & Implementation’ here at Lalla Arifa Auditorium of Govt. College for Women, MA Road on June 27, 2022. KL Image by Syed Ahmad Rufai

However, quite a few people know that even though it has been a month in college, these students are still facing a lot of problems. While they somehow have managed part of the so-called upgradation processes, the teachers in most of the Cluster University-linked colleges are yet to take the responsibility of starting teachers seriously.

Students said that the frequent changes in the admissions were nightmarish. They were admitted to one college under one Cluster University notification and then the admissions were changed in the second notification. “I had submitted all my documents and secured the admission when the next notification changed my college and I had to redo everything and it was painful,” one girl student, who moved from Amar Singh College to MA Road College said. “In a lot of cases, the Cluster University officials had changed our priority subjects at their own sweet will, which to many of us was devastating.”

Amar Singh College, for instance, is yet to offer roll numbers to the students who were admitted for the first semester. They say the college administration has barred the library from them. (Officials contacted by Kashmir Life said they have issued roll number to all candidates on Monday.)

“It is too crowded and one has to struggle to be in the line,” one student said. “Teachers are taking the classes but it is erratic. Seemingly, there are few teachers and too many students.”

A student enrolled currently in the Abdul Ahad Azad Memorial Degree College, Bemina, said the classes are not being taken by teachers on a regular basis.

Another student, however, said the students who joined the college slightly later because of the admission crisis, have missed a lot of syllabi. “We must be taught these topics,” the student said. “We have been going to college for 18 days and our first semester has not been good yet and the administration is very careless.”

Impressed by the huge infrastructure, a student of the Gandhi College Babdemb said they have not had classes so far. “We found there are quite a few teachers who are serious towards their duties,” the student said. “We are yet to have a hassle-free entry into the library. We do not have library cards so we have to carry the slips of fees with us and then enter.” The student said after entering the premises, the doors close but there is not much to do – not much teaching, no entry into the library. “This needs a change.”

“Classes are held and students are regular,” one student of MA Road College said. “But there are some teachers who say they will take classes only after the cluster University issues the final list!”

The students said they are “resting” after a tiring “admission process” because it was “haphazard” and “painful”. Some students are still struggling to get the admission fee refunded that they had submitted before they were asked by Cluster University to go to another college. “The Cluster University and the colleges should take responsibility for the faulty process they started with this season,” one angry student said. “Imagine a student who had only that much of savings that was required for the admission fee in a college and then he or she had to arrange the same amount to seek admission in another college.”

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