BJP MLA Ganesh Gaonkar who managed to walk away with grants for the BCA course in his new Dharbandora college while the other nine colleges offering the same course in the State struggle, denies he is being favoured by the government. The one year old Gopal Gaonkar
Memorial Goa Multi Faculty College commissioned by the BJP MLA in Dharbandora was the only college privileged to receive funds
for its BCA course this year. (Herald Review had run an exclusive report on this on July 13). Students
at the new college have to pay a mere Rs 5000 per annum as against the Rs 39,216 per annum they pay in the nine other colleges.
Gaonkar claimed there was no favouritism, saying he had followed the “proper procedure” to obtain grants from the government,
something he claimed other colleges “didn’t do”. He told Herald Review that students enrolled in the college are from the “economically backward
and deprived sections of society”
and cannot afford to pay the Rs
39216 each year.
But disgruntled faculty from
other colleges insists the students
are no different from their own
and they too have their share of
students from the ST, SC and OBC
communities.
Most colleges received a very
low turnout of students this year
for the course. Many saw the numbers
drop by half and those offering
two divisions couldn’t find adequate
students to fill up the quota
(of 40 students) for one division.
Some colleges fear they may have
to shut down their course next
year. All this while the Dharbandora
College with no campus of its
own, running from the premises
of the government middle school,
managed to get students to fill up
all 40 of its seats.
The Gopal Gaonkar College, administered
by Shree Sateri Pissani
Education Society is presided over
by Gaonkar and has been permitted
to have two batches of BBA
and one of BCA this year.
The BCA course is governed and
managed by Goa University. GU
sets the syllabus, conducts the exams
and confers students their
degrees. Principals of the other
colleges also want to know
whether the privileged new college
has been given a free hand to
function while they have to
strictly adhere to all the norms for
infrastructure strictly laid down
by the University.
P M Bhende, Principal of GVM
College, one of the worst hit colleges,
says the course is very popular
and large number of students
will opt for the course, should
other colleges be given grants too.
The nine colleges in Goa that
have been running the Bachelor of
Commerce (BCA) course as a self
financed course have not received
any respite in the form of finances
yet from the government. The nine
colleges were miffed at the discrimination
in allocation of funds
to a new college this year.
Principals who met Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar last month
and had raised the issue with him,
were given no hope when he sidestepped
the obvious partisanship
of only a single college benefitting
from grants and made it clear that
self-financed courses would remain
self-financed.
In the Assembly too the Chief
Minister told the House that the
Dharbandora college received
grants because it was a cheaper option
for the government. Grants
would amount to Rs 50 lakh per
annum as against Rs 30 crore the
government would have to spend
to establish its own college. The
other colleges received a low
turnout this year because of the fall
in the number of students overall
at Class XII in comparison to the
last academic year, the CM said.
Lisa Ann Monteiro
