STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar on Sunday said the Government Gandhi Memorial Science College Jammu and Sri Pratap College, Srinagar will come up as centres of excellence in science teaching and learning as affiliated colleges of Cluster University Jammu and Cluster University Srinagar.
“Both these heritage colleges would be transformed into premier institutes dedicated to research and teaching in basic sciences as affiliated colleges of the new Cluster Universities which will mark a new beginning in J and K’s academic scenario,” Akhtar said during his visit to the MAM College here, which is an affiliate college of Cluster University Jammu.
Vice-Chancellor Cluster University Jammu, Anju Bhasin, Secretary J and K State Sports Council, Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, faculty of MAM College and other officials of the Education Department accompanied the minister.
He said the faculty and students of GGM Science College Jammu erstwhile Prince of Wales College and SP College Srinagar will be linked through a collaborative educational network with a variety of instructional development activities.
“Besides upgrading existing courses in basic sciences with most up-to-date curriculum, these Colleges will offer other integrated courses in subjects like economics, humanities, cultural studies and sports sciences,” he said and added that such innovative courses will offer the students a wide range of career opportunities besides honing their talent in scientific research.
The minister said that these colleges, as a part of the Cluster Universities, shall have the flexibility of offering five-year integrated Masters programme in the Basic Sciences for students who have completed 10+2 schooling as also post-Masters doctorate programmes.
“Apart from classroom teaching, student skills need to be built in areas such as scientific inquiry, problem solving, communication skills, computational sciences, electronics and instrumentation and workshop practices,” he said and added that the latest course modules in science can be worked out with institutions of repute like BARC, ISRO, CSIR, IISC and others.
Akhtar also called for starting internship programmes for the graduates with specific focus on local economic potential and employment avenues.
“Similarly, courses can be started in Liberal Arts and Kashmir Studies as a part of the Humanities stream,” he said.
The minister said the requisite infrastructure like laboratories, libraries, digital classrooms and other facilities would be developed in these colleges for the purpose.
