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New Universities may ruin Punjabi University : Patiala

PUNJAB NEWS EXPRESS | September 08, 2020 02:13 PM

PATIALA:The Patiala city has become the education hub of Punjab which is a home bastion of the Chief
Minister. The new sports university with the name Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, Sports University
& another one as Jagat Guru Nanak Open University in Patiala are recently added to the list.
Meanwhile, Chairman Human Rights Cell, Punjab Congress Dr. Pankaj Mohindru who is also an
academician has a divergent view in this regard and said the two new universities in Patiala are
opened in haste and without any concrete plans at all. It is apprehended widely this haste of state
government would only liberate waste and could badly damage the department of sports and
department of distance education of Punjabi University,  Patiala in the upcoming academic years.
He believes there is going to be an inevitable situation to handle by our two outstanding
departments of the university.
The department of distance education was established in 1968 and the department is running
various courses with UGC approved faculty strength of 60. There are about 20, 000 students
registered presently in the various courses with the Department of Distance Education and more
than 1000 students enrolled with the Department of Sports of Punjabi University, Patiala.
The department of distance education is already going through a very harsh time amid COVID
19 as the past practice of providing well-printed notes through the post has been hampered due to
lack of finances. The digital divide has been another very serious issue among the students. The
major concern is limited access to these well-designed notes to the students of the distance
education department especially residing in the rural areas.
On the other hand, the sports department is struggling with the issues like the purchase of new
machines, diet money given to sportsmen, sports kits, delay in prize money, and maintenance of
old relevant equipment and machines due to paucity of funds. The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
(MAKA) trophy is conferred to a top-performing university in sports and Punjabi University,
Patiala, has won the coveted MAKA trophy 10 times, including six times in a row for best sports
performance in the country. However, the state university has started losing sheen in its sports
performances.
The opening of these two new universities in the city is a bitter pill to swallow for all concerned
Punjabi University officials, players, mentors, and supporting staff because it should not have
happened at all. It is repeatedly alleged that the state government has overlooked the Punjabi
university absolutely in the last three years. These two departments are going to be hit with a
double whammy in near future due to the ongoing precarious cash crunch state of affairs and the
emergence of new universities in the proximity.

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