Saturday, 02 September 2023 | Vinod Chamoli | New Tehri
The admission graph has fallen in the Swami Ramteerth campus of the HNB Garhwal Central University. This campus has given many political leaders to the State but the situation at present is such that no admissions have been done in various subjects so far. The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is believed to be the reason behind the drop in admissions. However, the campus administration believes that the admission figure may increase in the coming days.
Various MLAs and cabinet ministers have risen from student politics at the university level in the State. Swami Ramteerth campus of the Garhwal University has also contributed some political leaders to the State. Many leaders started their political journey after becoming the student union president in the Swami Ramteerth campus which came into existence in the year 1969. Among them are the names of former ministers Mantri Prasad Naithani and Dinesh Dhanai. Apart from this, MLA Vikram Singh Negi and former MLA Vijay Panwar are also products of this campus. There was a time when students used to compete with each other to secure admission here.
However, this year the campus seems to be struggling with fewer students. According to officials, currently 219 students have taken admission in undergraduate courses out of 840 seats. Due to this 621 seats are lying vacant. Admissions have been secured in 92 out of 240 seats in BA, 23 out of 80 seats in BCom and 43 out of 161 seats in BSc. When it comes to post graduate courses, out of total 452 seats, admission has been taken only on 71 seats. In this, not a single seat has been taken in MA Defence, MA Home Science and MA Education. The campus administration says that admissions to some seats are expected in the coming days. It should be mentioned here that after passing the CUET students from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir have taken admission in the campus.
Student leaders say that CUET did not have an examination center in the mountains. Due to this many students could not appear in the examination. Along with this there is also lack of awareness. Former student union president Ankit Sajwan said that due to the absence of a CUET examination center in the mountains, many students were deprived of the opportunity of appearing for the examination. In such a situation, agitation is being carried out for the last nine days demanding relaxation in CUET.
Campus director Professor AA Baudai said that the admission figure is low due to CEUT. Right now the admission process is in progress and the number of admissions may increase in the coming days, he added.
