Seventeen government pre-university (PU) colleges across the State will be closed from the 2017-2018 academic year.
A Government Order, issued on Saturday, stated that three colleges had zero admissions, while 14 had less than 10 enrolments. All 17 will therefore be closed this year.
“Despite initiating several measures, the student strength has not been improving in these colleges. So we thought the same resources and funds should be used to run PU colleges in other locations,” a source in the Department of Primary and Secondary Education said.
Among the PU colleges ordered to close are Government Secondary School and Government PU College, New Fort, in Bengaluru.
The Department of Pre-University Education has, however, been given permission to run new government colleges in places where it claims there is demand.
Department officials said the decision of closure was taken as the colleges have been registering low attendance over five years. The students in these colleges will be shifted to nearby PU colleges.
In June last year, the Department of Public Instruction had ordered closure of 2,959 government schools which had less than 10 students on their rolls. After widespread criticism from several quarters, the order was withdrawn.
Among the list of PU colleges scheduled to be closed, the maximum number is from Hassan (5), followed by Ballari and Mandya (3 each).
