‘Region accounts for only 3.5% of country’s colleges’

SILCHAR: Calcutta University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das expressed concern over the ‘imbalanced expansion’ of higher education across the country.
Addressing the 14th convocation of Assam University, Silchar, on Saturday, Das said the higher education scenario in the country is undergoing momentous changes. Since Independence, the country has made considerable progress in the realm of higher education, said Das, but added that this expansion has been betrayed by certain dichotomies.
Addressing the convocation as its chief guest, the CU vice-chancellor said the country’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education is still below the Asian average of 21%. The system suffers from a bias for male, urban, upper class and upper caste students.
Das talked about several regional imbalances in the higher education scenario. One-third or 33% of the colleges across the country are located in the south, while the central, western, eastern, northern and north-eastern parts of the country account for only 22%, 19%, 11.5%, 10.5% and 3.5% of the colleges, respectively.
The CU vice-chancellor said Assam University has been able to create a niche in the academic map of the country. He, however, added, “As we prepare ourselves to be globally competitive, we need not divorce ourselves from tradition. We should, instead, think of the alternative paradigm of traditional modernity.”
Guests at the occasion included renowned theatre personality Salim Arif, director of the National Institute of Oceanography S W A Naqvi and AU vice-chancellor Somnath Dasgupta. Chancellor Gulzar presided over the event.