Aided colleges not receiving any govt grant since April
TEACHERS NOT GETTING SALARIES FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS, RURAL COLLEGES ARE WORST AFFECTED
AMRITSAR: The aided colleges in the state are in a deep financial mess as the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government has failed to release grant-in-aid since April this year.
There are a total of 136 aided colleges in Punjab that run under the 95% grain-in-aid scheme of the Punjab government.
The college management has to bear only 5% of the burden. But owing to the non-release of grant, many aided colleges have not paid salaries to the staff recruited under the scheme. Some aided colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, have not even got the grant for March.
The situation is worse in rural colleges that are already facing financial crunch.
The dip in students’ strength is also worrying the college managements .
“Of 53 teachers, only 12 teachers come under the scheme. Still, the managing committee is unable to pay their salaries,” said Surinder Bangar, principal of Sri Guru Angad Dev College, Khadoor Sahib, in Tarn Taran district. “Even as the government has stopped releasing grant since April, management of some urban colleges are paying salaries to the staff at their own level. But this will not last long as colleges are running out of funds,” said Gurpinder Singh Samra, president of Guru Nanak Dev University Principals’ Association and principal of Layalpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.
Gurdeep Sharma, president of the Federation of Associations of College Principals, Punjab, said some colleges have taken loans for their day-to-day expenditure.
During the previous Akali-BJP government’s regime too, the aided colleges got no grants for six months in 2014.
Besides finances, these colleges are also battling with staff shortage due to ban on recruitment. The staff in these colleges has been reduced to 40%, which is affecting quality of education.
When contacted, principal secretary (higher education) SK Sandhu, said: “I have no information about the non-release of grants to aided colleges. But I will look into the matter.”
Deputy director, DPI (colleges) Surinderpal Singh also refused to talk citing health issues, while Harjit Singh, DPI (colleges) did not attend the call.