Kurseong : One of the most important institutes based in the hills, the Rangers College at St. Mary’s in Kurseong is about to be shut down completely.
The Ranger’s College where all the range officers from the forest department came for training from all over India was shut down since 2007. Somehow the college was restarted in July of 2013, but once again the college is on the verge of shutting down, with both the Government of India and West Bengal government not showing any interest in keeping the college open.
According to sources, the government has started to transfer the college staff to other places, and notices have been issued to the remaining staff to join work elsewhere.
This college was established in 1970s under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and is only one of the 4 such colleges in all of India. This premier institute hosted selected officers from all the states across India, but since 2007 no new entrant has been allowed to join this college.
Many have blamed the Gorkhaland agitation as the main reason behind the shutting down of this college, as during the height of the agitation no courses could be conducted here. However, the institute had continued to host refresher courses of 15 to 20 days duration, every 2 to 3 months.
We can understand that the Congress/UPA government might have ordered non-recruitment of new students in the college, but we are unable to understand as to what is stopping GTA/GJM or BJP from reversing this process?
Other than the schools, most of which are private, there are very few India level institutes in the Darjeeling hills, and this Ranger’s College was one of the Premier most. If this shuts down, it will be a blow to Darjeeling and its people.
We request the GTA Chief Bimal Gurung to intervene and prevent this from happening. We also request the Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia to raise this issue in the parliament, and prevent the closure of this esteemed institution.
This school is our heritage, and its shutting down will reflect very poorly on the education environment in the hills.
Source: DC
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| Ranger’s College in Kurseong |
According to sources, the government has started to transfer the college staff to other places, and notices have been issued to the remaining staff to join work elsewhere.
This college was established in 1970s under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and is only one of the 4 such colleges in all of India. This premier institute hosted selected officers from all the states across India, but since 2007 no new entrant has been allowed to join this college.
Many have blamed the Gorkhaland agitation as the main reason behind the shutting down of this college, as during the height of the agitation no courses could be conducted here. However, the institute had continued to host refresher courses of 15 to 20 days duration, every 2 to 3 months.
We can understand that the Congress/UPA government might have ordered non-recruitment of new students in the college, but we are unable to understand as to what is stopping GTA/GJM or BJP from reversing this process?
Other than the schools, most of which are private, there are very few India level institutes in the Darjeeling hills, and this Ranger’s College was one of the Premier most. If this shuts down, it will be a blow to Darjeeling and its people.
We request the GTA Chief Bimal Gurung to intervene and prevent this from happening. We also request the Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia to raise this issue in the parliament, and prevent the closure of this esteemed institution.
This school is our heritage, and its shutting down will reflect very poorly on the education environment in the hills.
Source: DC
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