Dharamsala: Founded in October 1956, the Government College of Education, Dharamsala happens to be the oldest publically funded institution in Himachal Pradesh that was established to meet the growing demand of trained teachers for middle and secondary schools.
Then it was affiliated with the Punjab University, but after the reorganization of states in 1966, the college came to be affiliated with Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) Shimla. The co-educational institution has been catering to the needs of pre-service teacher -trainees only.
Reputation of the college’s history notwithstanding, things have come to such a pass that despite there being 235 seats on offer for B.Ed (Bachelor in Education) degree course, there is not a single seat in the college for medical students.
For all of Himachal the 30 seats that are meant for medical students are at Shimla only, and none at Dharamshala.
Even all the private colleges are having seats for medical students, so why is this facility not being given to the brilliant medical students of the area who attain topmost ranks in the qualifying entrance exam.
The Institution in question has been requesting the state government to provide at least 10 seats for medical students in the reputed Government B.Ed College of Dharamsala to help needy parents and students of the area, who otherwise have to go to Shimla (as it is the only other Government Institute of the state offering the medical B.Ed Course).
The governments concerned department continues to ignore the demand, whereas there is no extra staff or infra structure required to include a Medical wing at the institution.
With counseling for the B.Ed course yet to start, people of the area have asked the government to reconsider its stand and approve of opening of an Medical Wing at Dharamsala College of Education at the earliest.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
