K’taka to allocate Rs 230 crores to provide laptops for SC, ST students in universities

Bengaluru : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah instructed officials to distribute laptops to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of universities under SCSP/T.S.P. This decision was made in a meeting of Vice Chancellors of universities under the purview of the state government and senior officials of the higher education department.

The Chief Minister instructed P. Manivannan, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department, over phone during the meeting to provide Rs. 230 crore for this purpose. Laptops should be distributed to every student of all communities in universities. Necessary action will be taken for this in the coming days, he said.

There are more than 50 per cent vacancies against sanctioned posts in Universities and only 1,882 posts are filled. The vice chancellors and officers brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that the salaries of 2,865 guest lecturers are being paid from the resources of the universities, which is a financial burden on them.

Even though the old universities are divided, only the old universities are disbursing the pension. Due to this, the financial burden of old universities has increased. Rs 5,470 crore budgetary allocation is made in the current budget and there is a shortfall of Rs 2,474 crore for higher education sector, officers explained.

The Chief Minister was sceptical about establishing new universities, while budget allocation is decreasing. On the other hand, the recurring cost is increasing. How can we expect quality education from this, he asked. In addition, in the budget of the higher education department, 88 per cent of the grant is used for salaries.

The Chief Minister suggested that Visvesvaraya Technical University should develop a curriculum that is in line with the demands of industries and lay emphasis on flexible education to provide more employment opportunities to engineering graduates.