Srinagar September 26 : A group of students who recently completed their BSc in Biochemistry from GDC Women’s Anantnag are facing uncertainty over their academic future after struggling to secure admission in the Honours program.
The students told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that they had initially planned to continue with Honours in GDC Anantnag. However, the college informed them that the program requires a minimum of 10 students to run, and with only 4 applicants, the course could not be started.
Faced with this setback, the students migrated to GDC Khanabal after completing all formalities. To their surprise, GDC Khanabal has now advised them to migrate again, this time to GDC Kulgam, citing the same government criteria of having at least 10 applicants.
“We cannot afford to travel to Kulgam. It is far from our homes and will be hectic for us,” the students said.
“Since we were told the Honours class cannot run with less than 10 students, we migrated to GDC Khanabal, Anantnag. We went through the entire process, completed the formalities, and were admitted there,” one of the students said.
To their surprise, the students have now been told by GDC Khanabal authorities that they will have to migrate again—this time to GDC Kulgam. The students say this new directive is impractical and unfair.
“GDC Kulgam is far from our homes, it is a remote location and travelling there on a daily basis will be hectic and unaffordable for us. We have already gone through the admission and migration process once. Asking us to repeat it and relocate again is not only stressful but also jeopardises our studies,” another student explained.
The students fear that the repeated changes may cause them to lose an academic year. They have appealed to the authorities to allow them to continue their Honours at GDC Khanabal, where they have already been admitted.
“We are only four students, but our future should not be compromised. We urge the Higher Education Department to intervene and provide us a solution within Anantnag,” the students said.
Principal GDC Khanabal, Prof. Mushtaq Ahmad, confirmed receiving the applications but pointed to government rules. “We have received the applications of these students.
As per guidelines, we can offer admissions only if there are at least 10 applicants in Biochemistry. At Khanabal, they are only 5. We have recommended them to join GDC Kulgam where a few more students have applied, so the course can start,” he said.
The affected students are now appealing to authorities to review the guidelines so that smaller groups are not left behind in pursuing higher studies.(KNS)
