What are community colleges?
Community colleges, which have flourished in the US, are making their way in India now. The United States has offered to help India in building its own network of community colleges. A community college is basically a local college that aims at empowering and uplifting the poor.
The community college, which is an innovative educational alternative, looks at providing holistic education to the disadvantaged. And the US is willing to provide India with help. Dr Rakesh Nath, an assistant professor at a leading university in Mumbai says that community colleges in India can work if there is enough of financial support to run the organisations.
“The finances can still be organised, but do we have enough faculty to support these institutions? And most often, to manage such huge population of students at community colleges is not viable at present,” he says adding, “It will definitely work well if we have adequate resources. Moreover if industries can offer internships and job opportunities, it would work just fine.”
Students too are quite upbeat about the idea of community colleges kick starting in the country. It would be on the lines of those in the US.
Kritika Lal, a research assistant who is working on her thesis on community colleges says, “Community colleges are a good idea in India. With the cut-off marks shooting through the roof, most students who are not excellent at academics have to settle for the lesser popular colleges anyway. They are left scouting for seats until a few days before the colleges open. At least these colleges will assure seats for a huge chunk of students.”
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