PM’s dream project of model colleges stutters in first year

The government’s ambitious plan to set up model colleges in each of India’s 374 educationally backward districts, announced by the Prime Minister, is stuttering in its first year of implementation, leaving officials fumbling to avoid embarrassment.

The government’s ambitious plan to set up model colleges in each of India’s 374 educationally backward districts, announced by the Prime Minister, is stuttering in its first year of implementation, leaving officials fumbling to avoid embarrassment.

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A desperate human resource development ministry is now firing letters to other key stakeholders including state governments and central ministries, seeking their intervention, as it struggles to meet its targets, top government sources have told HT.

PM Manmohan Singh had announced the plan to set up model colleges in each district with a gross enrolment ratio in higher education below the national average, while addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2007. The plan is a key component of the PM's higher education vision and is a part of the UPA's plan to improve access to quality higher education to students across India.

Earlier this year, the programme was officially rolled and the HRD ministry set a target of sanctioning at least 110 colleges during the current year.

“This could become a major source of embarrassment because the PM had announced the scheme,” a senior official conceded.

The ministry has communicated with the minorities’ ministry to help facilitate the setting up of colleges in minority dominated backward districts. The HRD ministry is also writing to the Development of North Eastern Region ministry to similarly help set up colleges in the north east. The HRD ministry is also writing to the railway ministry seeking land to set up the colleges.