City students show little interest
DO STUDENTS of the State capital and its vicinity lack the drive for education compared to other regions and states? That?s a question the authorities of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) here seem to be grappling with.
DO STUDENTS of the State capital and its vicinity lack the drive for education compared to other regions and states? That’s a question the authorities of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) here seem to be grappling with.

Students of the neighbouring states are lapping up the courses while students of the State, especially Bhopal and surrounding areas, seem disinterested.
The MANUU is all set to start a regular B Ed college in Bhopal from this year itself but its distance learning course that has been running for a couple of years reveals the above trend.
In the second year, 79 out of 82 students in the batch come from Maharashtra while the first-year batch has 33 students from Maharashtra out of 37.
The authorities are not excessively concerned about admissions as it is a Central university and students from all over the country will appear for the entrance in order to get admission in the course. But the lack of interest here especially from Urdu-knowing populace (mostly Muslims) has surprised them.
“Most queries to this centre come from Maharashtra and other states like Uttar Pradesh but surprisingly students of the region don’t seem that interested,” says Dr Mohammad Ahsan, MANUU’s Regional Director.
The principal of MANUU’s proposed B Ed College, Avinash Grewal, says that the fee for the regular B Ed course would be just Rs 2,500 annually. “It will be many times less than the fee charged by private colleges,” she adds.
The regular B Ed colleges of MANUU are already functioning in Srinagar (J&K) and Hyderabad (AP). Nearly 70 per cent students got jobs after the degree, says Dr Ahsan about the college in Hyderabad. “The placement rate for Srinagar is also very good,” he further adds. Regular B Ed colleges at Bhopal and Darbhanga (Bihar) are to be opened shortly and though the session will start late, the students will get admission for 2006-2007.
“Urdu medium is no constraint rather the importance lies on the fact how much knowledge and excellence a person has in his field irrespective of medium of education,” adds Ahsan. The university runs umpteen courses and in most of the courses, students of Maharashtra far outnumber the local students.
Within the State, the response is highest from Malwa region especially Burhanpur, Ujjain and Indore. MANUU is a Central university that was established by an Act of Parliament and President A P J Abdul Kalam is the Chancellor.