Giridih/Ranchi: For seventy years, students from Giridih have had to travel 115 kilometers for any university-related work and to pursue their Postgraduate degree courses. But now, they can pursue higher education in their own city, thanks to the Jharkhand government’s cabinet’s decision that has paved the way for Sir JC Bose University.
Jharkhand’s new Chief Minister, Champai Soren, led the cabinet on Thursday to approve the establishment of Sir JC Bose University, whose area will cover Giridih and Koderma, the two most educationally backward districts in India. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of Giridih and Koderma is 11.71 and 11.26, respectively, which is very low compared to the national GER of 28.4 in higher education.
The Rs 300-plus crores project Varsity will span over an area of 70-acres. It will have sports ground, residences for the Vice-Chancellor and all faculty members, along with their offices. All the colleges in the Giridih and Koderma districts will come under its purview.
“It will especially help a large number of girls who, due to traveling outside the district, could not pursue their dream of higher education,” reacted Shama Perween, an educationist, and Principal of Pachamba Girls High School.
Perween, an Executive Member of Science for Society pointed out, “The university in the name of a great scientist will motivate students to study science subjects.”
Why a university in the name of Sir JC Bose?
While people here had demanded a university for a long time, there was also a demand that it should be named after the inventor of the Crescograph. Bose, one of the greatest scientists that the world has ever seen was a resident of Kolkata but he had made Giridih his workfield. He had breathed his last in Giridih on November 23, 1937. Along with Bose, Statistician PC Mahalanobis, Poet Rabindranath Tagore, freedom fighter Aruna Asif Ali, and several other Bengali legends had made the district their work place. PC Mahalanobis had established the Indian Statistical Institute, the second one in India, after the first one opened in Kolkata.
So far in Giridih, only a school, Sir JC Bose Girls High School, near the house (named as science center) where he had died, is named after him.
“This is a big achievement as far as Giridih’s educational condition is concerned. It should have been done way ahead, but at least now it has happened thanks to Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu. It is a true tribute to the legendary scientist,” said Ritesh Sarak of Sir JC Bose Memorial Society, which raised the issue regularly.
Sarak added, “In the time of the name-changing spree by the government, because of the attachment to Sir JC Bose, we hope that the name of the varsity will not be changed.”
Drinking water project in the most backward block
Besides the university, the oldest block of Giridih, Pirtand, which was once the epicenter of naxal activities and an extremely backward region, got a Rs 639 crores drinking water supply project. Probably, it is the largest project Giridih district has ever received. The cabinet decisions remain historic for the Giridih district, as it not only got a university but also a drinking water scheme for its oldest block.
From a solar city to solar district
Additionally, Giridih, where the Solar City plan is underway, has been expanded from urban to rural areas. So now it will cover the entire Giridih district.
“All these are the result of our four years of work. I had a dream to have a university in the name of Sir JC Bose and a drinking water facility for the Pirtand region. These are also the works that were backed and supported by the former chief minister Hemant Soren, who had announced before the Giridih public that they would have a university soon,” Sudivya Sonu told eNewsroom.
Giridih MLA also informed that the foundation laying ceremony of the ambitious projects will take place after upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
