Arteev Sharma
Jammu: Government degree colleges across Jammu and Kashmir appear to be facing a crisis of low enrolment in traditional courses, with a majority of institutions, particularly newly opened colleges in rural areas, struggling to fill their sanctioned seats, raising questions over whether inadequate infrastructure and staff crunch are contributing to the trend.
The issue has also raised serious concern whether the students in Jammu and Kashmir are increasingly turning towards professional courses under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) and other career-oriented options, or are government degree colleges themselves losing their appeal because of shortcomings and limited course choices.
Official sources told The News Now that a serious decline in enrolment has been recorded in a large number of government degree colleges, particularly those located in rural and remote areas. In several cases, traditional subjects have either witnessed negligible admissions or had to be discontinued altogether after students showed little interest.
The trend is not confined to newly established colleges. Even some of Jammu’s prominent government degree colleges, which once witnessed intense competition for admission, are now finding it difficult to fill sanctioned or intake seats in conventional courses.
To start with, Government College for Women, Parade Ground, Jammu, reported only six of the 80 sanctioned/intake seats filled in 2023, while the number fell to one in 2024 and rose marginally to four in 2025. Thus, 76 seats remained vacant over the three-year period.
At Government Degree College (GDC) Bishnah, Mathematics and Physics recorded a 100 per cent decline in enrolment, with students having opted for both subjects in the previous two academic sessions but none enrolling subsequently. At GDC Akhnoor, enrolment in Business Studies fell from 30 students in 2023 to zero, resulting in discontinuation of the subject.
Similar trends have been reported in nearly 10 degree colleges, besides the Bhaderwah Campus of the University of Jammu, in the district where enrolment in different courses declined by 25 to 100 per cent during the period.
In Doda district’s Government Degree College (GDC) Kastigarh, the department had to discontinue Urdu subject after 100 percent decline in enrollment in 2025 as compared to just three students enrolled in 2023. Similarly GDC Kilhotran, Arabic and Economics courses were discontinued in 2025 after 100 percent decline in enrollment from just seven and six students in 2023 in two subjects respectively against the sanctioned 80 seats. In this college, over 95 decline in enrollment was also reported in Urdu Course.
In Kathua district, GDC Billawar reported zero enrolment in five courses—Computer Applications, Business Studies, Dogri, Chemistry and Psychology—in 2025. GDC Hiranagar recorded a 100 per cent decline in Dogri, while GDC Kathua witnessed a similar decline in Vocal and Punjabi courses.
In the remote Padder area of Kishtwar district, the degree college also recorded 100 percent decline in enrollment in Hindi, Education and Sociology courses, forcing higher education department to discontinue Hindi and Education subjects in the college.
Officials said similar patterns had emerged from colleges across all 20 districts, with several institutions recording enrolment declines ranging between 50 and 100 per cent in individual courses.
The declining trend has prompted the Higher Education Department to examine the viability and relevance of courses being offered in government degree colleges. A high-level committee has been constituted for rationalisation of subjects and introduction of new programmes aligned with industry requirements, skills and emerging employment opportunities.
The committee has issued various recommendations, and directives to see the declining trends in admission across a large number of degree colleges particularly those located in rural and remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir. It also recommended undertaking a comprehensive programme-wise located review of enrollment in all government degree colleges.
The enrolment crisis comes against the backdrop of another major challenge confronting J&K’s higher education sector—the absence of reliable data on the transition of graduates from classrooms to the job market. The government has acknowledged that it does not have consolidated course-wise data on the employability of graduates passing out from government degree colleges, universities and cluster universities.
Pertinently, nearly 30,000 students graduate every year from 145 government degree colleges across Jammu and Kashmir, but there is no standardised database to establish how many secure employment, which sectors they enter or whether the courses they studied actually improve their employment prospects.
