Ghost colleges give BPed degrees

BHOPAL: Forget about haunted campuses of physical education colleges, there is at least one ghost college recognized by National Council of Teachers' Education, which doesn't exist on the address mentioned in the council's list. In the third part of the series on B.Ped colleges, TOI tracked a physical education college which claimed its playground was almost 20 km away from the college building.
National PG College with postal address of Bharat Scouts and Guides campus, Depot Chouraha, has been recognised by National Council of Teachers' Education (NCTE), a government of India organization. After verification, TOI found the college did not exist on its official address. Instead, another institution with the name Narmada PG College is being run.
Narmada PG College is also flouting norms. The college with physical education courses is being run from a rented building. Recognition rules of NCTE and BU say an 8-acre land is required to run physical education courses. Again, like many other physical education colleges of Bhopal, there is no sport ground.
Chairman of Narmada College, Sujeet Sharma, said, "Why are you asking me about my college? There are other colleges in capital which are not following norms. You should also write about them. I am following rules and regulations."
He even claimed NCTE had given recognition on basis of land lease papers presented by him. "At the time of recognition, there was no rule of 8-acre land," Sharma said.
However, he refused to clarify when asked how he presented lease papers when land belonged to Bharat Scouts and Guides. He refused to comment when asked more about his college.
The case of Kamalnath College of Physical Education is even more interesting. Though the college is being run from Saket Nagar, its postal address mentioned by NCTE is 56-C Shyamla Hills, Civil Lines, Bhopal.
When TOI visited this address, he found another physical education college with the name, Jawahar Lal College, being run from a three-storied building, sandwiched between two houses. Owner of both colleges are same. Forget about a sport ground, there is only a small compound outside the college building touching the road.
College chairman Asif Zaki said, "Our playground is in Parwaliya on outskirts of Bhopal." Parwaliya is almost 20 km away from the college building. Zaki said, "Our Shyamla Hills address is only the contact office of Kamalnath College."
Zaki claimed they have developed top class playground facilities for students in Parwaliya. "We have a bus to send students for practical classes at Parwaliya." NCTE rules say for students of physical education courses, there must be at least 3 hours daily class on sport ground for practical knowledge.
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Special Task Force of Madhya Pradesh launched investigations, following complaints of largescale irregularities in B.Ped colleges affiliated to Barkatullah University. STF also sought a report of these colleges from BU which it failed to submit. Instead the varsity officials asked colleges to furnish their details. Registrar of Barkatullah University, Lonu Singh Solanki, said, "These colleges bagged affiliation when I was not posted in the university. I will probe the issue if there is any complaint against such colleges."
When the registrar was reminded that BU regularly carried out inspections of these colleges, Solanki said, "We check documents and return them at the time of inspection. We have asked colleges to provide information again. We have forwarded details of the colleges to STF".
In fact, recently a college committee comprising professors also carried inspection of these colleges and a report was also submitted to BU.