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Bhubaneswar: The state government Tuesday gave its nod to the long pending issue about the separation of junior colleges from the degree colleges from 2017-18.
Separation of Plus II and Plus III will remain a priority for the state government, higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahy said. “We will issue a notification in this regard and expedite the process of separation,” he said.
Higher education department officials said the move can also help junior colleges avail central funds of nearly Rs 100 crore every year under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
The state has for long wanted to separate Plus II and Plus III. However, it took the state government nearly 17 years to just form a council for Plus II. The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), designed especially for junior colleges, was established in 1983. It took another six years for the state to issue a gazette notification that approved the separation of Plus II and Plus III. The state government again took the matter seriously after 21 years in 2010. It was then decided to conduct a survey of the physical infrastructure and start the separation process by 2011. Five more meetings followed till 2015, but no steps have been taken by the government.
Educationists believe it is difficult to say how earnest the state government is this time about the separation of Plus II from Plus III and simultaneously including junior colleges under the school and mass education department and degree colleges under higher education department.