Cost of foreign dreams: Punjab Colleges grapple with dwindling student strength

Punjab E News: In Punjab, on the one hand, where the queues in front of the ‘IELTS’ centers are getting longer, on the other hand, the number of students in the colleges is continuously decreasing. The difference and the growing desire to go abroad has almost emptied many colleges.

    College principals say that the number of students dropping out of the college has seen an increase of 15 to 40 per cent in the last 5-6 years.

     For instance, the Guru Nanak National College in Nakodar, which has been running since 1969, currently has around 500 students, up from over 1,500 at one point of time. Last year, 250 students took admission in the first year for graduation courses.

     In the second year, the number dropped to 125. College principal Prabal Joshi said, “Students take admission saying that they will leave the course when the visa comes. Similarly, the number of students in BD Arya College is also 300.

     The number of students is also 300. The college administration has stopped the masters due to lack of admission.

    The college’s acting principal Parminder Kaur said they had met the Union education minister recently on the issue. “I appealed to the minister that something needs to be done to ensure that students stay and study in these colleges. Mata Sahib Kaur Khalsa College for Women Dhondowal has only 100 students left and this year the masters course in the college has been discontinued.”