Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has alleged that the BJP government, after shutting down government schools, is now moving to close down universities. He claimed that this is evident from the steep hike in university fees and the recent move to discontinue several academic programs.
“This BJP government is shutting down more than 20 skill-based and employment-oriented courses at Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind, citing a lack of faculty and infrastructure. As a result, students from Jind and nearby areas will now have to travel to Kurukshetra, Delhi, or other distant places for admission, which will be both costly and inconvenient,” he said in a statement.
Hooda recalled that the Congress government had established the university to promote higher education in Jind. “The Congress ensured that students from every district could access graduation and post-graduation education locally. But the BJP does not want children from poor, SC, OBC, and farming families to receive affordable and quality education,” he added.
He said this is why the government has discontinued crucial programs such as three-month Certificate Program in Communication Skills; one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Agricultural Enterprise; B Com; Advanced Certificate in Videography for Film and Television; Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication; and BA (Psychology), BA (History), BA (Economics), BA (English).
He further referred to Postgraduate Diploma in Guidance and Counselling; Diploma in Digital Forensics; PG Diploma in Data Science; B Sc (Geography), B Sc (Mathematics), B Sc (Physics), B Sc (Chemistry); Certificate Course in Geoinformatics; BA (Music) Vocal and Instrumental; MA Post Diploma in Creative Writing; MA Post Diploma in Advertising Business, and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA).
Hooda also criticized the government for a steep fee hike at Guru Jambheshwar University. “The fee for courses like LLB has increased by one and a half-time. The BA-LLB fee was ₹49,800 last year; now it has been raised to ₹75,000,” he said.
He added that similar hikes have been imposed on courses like BA Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, and B Tech. “This trend of increasing fees year after year is making it difficult for children from economically weaker backgrounds to pursue higher education,” he pointed out.
Hooda further said the government had officially refused to provide funds to universities and had asked them to recover their costs by increasing course fees. “Though the government later withdrew the letter due to opposition pressure, it’s clear that the policy continues. Government universities are being pushed to function like private institutions,” he said.
The former Chief Minister also slammed the BJP for not establishing a single major university during its tenure. “While the Congress opened one central university (Mahendragarh), 12 new government universities, 154 new polytechnic colleges, 56 new ITIs, and four government engineering colleges, the BJP has not even set up a single central university or technical institution in the past 11 years,” he claimed.
“The BJP is consistently closing government schools on one hand, and on the other, it is hiking university fees and discontinuing courses. This clearly shows its intent to hand over the entire education system to private players,” Hooda said.