Bhubaneswar: After transferring Plus II colleges from the Higher Education Department to the School and Mass Education Department, the state government has decided to scrap student union elections in junior colleges pursuing courses under Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE).
The School and Mass Education department has issued a gazette notification in this connection with effect from the academic session 2017-18.
“After the transfer of junior colleges to School and Mass Education Department, all junior colleges imparting CHSC courses of studies have been renamed as higher secondary schools. As student union polls cannot be conducted in schools, the government has scrapped it altogether,” higher secondary education director Susil Kumar Sil told Orissa POST, Sunday.
There will be no student union elections in the higher secondary schools, and the students cannot participate in such activities, Sil said, adding, “The decision comes into effect from the current academic year (2017-18).”
The Plus II first year and second year classes have been re-designated as classes 11th and 12th in higher secondary schools, he said.
“Scrapping the student elections at this time when some Plus II classes are functioning in degree colleges is not a pragmatic move. The government should have taken the decision after opening the 11th and 12th classes in schools,” educationist Pritish Acharya opined.
The School and Mass Education Department is in the process of framing guidelines for opening of standard XI and XII in higher secondary schools, sources said.
The government has also decided not to accord permission to opening new Plus II colleges or increase seats/ new streams in existing junior colleges till such policy regarding opening of higher secondary schools is finalised, the sources said. Such decision could affect all government and non-government aided colleges.
Last year the state government had separated Plus II colleges from degrees colleges. Now, the School and Mass Education Department is the administrative authority of the junior colleges.
Biswa Bhusan, OP
