Sirsi: ‘As many as eight new colleges have been opened this academic year under Karnataka State Women’s University. The university had 89 colleges in its jurisdiction last year, this year it has increased to 97’, said the university Vice-Chancellor Meena Chandavarkar, speaking at the inaugural function of Iqra Education Trust’s Iqra Women’s Degree College in Sirsi on Saturday.

The youth illiteracy in state is 24 percent, among which 65 percent are women and majority of women belong to Muslim community. She advised that everyone should be educated as the illiteracy would lead to many problems.

College students should have confidence, commitment, communication skills and creativity so as to reach the goal. Everyone has a spark of excellence and it should come out from their own effort, she said.

Primary & Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri inaugurated the women’s degree college. He said, -There is a demand for Urdu PU College. The State government is ready to provide the same, but after PUC, the students coming out from these colleges may face the problem of employment in the scenario of globalization. The same subject should be discussed in the society-, he said.

Every year nearly 10 lakh students take admission to first standard, but the number decreases to 6 lakh when they reach 12th standard. This gap should not be there. The degree education ratio in the county is about 12-14 per cent. In this backdrop, the Union and State governments are contemplating to bring reforms in university education. The Union government had formed a committee to verify the matter and a meeting of the committee was held at New Delhi recently. The committee is collecting the suggestions from the resource persons, educationists, he stated.

During post-Independence period Muslim community has faced many problems, and it may be because of lack of education. The present State government has given more support to minority communities. Muslim community people should send their children to schools as education would create sense of responsibility in each person, he said.

Bhatkal Anjuman Hami-E-Muslimeen President S M Khaleel, Iqra Education Trust President Abdul Quddus, Secretary Abbas Tonse and office-bearers were present on the occasion.