Tripura’s Higher Education in Crisis: Vacancy Deluge at Khowai’s Dasaratha Deb College Raises Serious Questions

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, June 26, 2025

At a time when the state government and ruling political leadership are loudly branding Tripura as an emerging education hub, the actual picture on the ground tells a drastically different story. The latest Vacancy Report after First Round of Counseling from Dasaratha Deb Memorial College, Khowai, exposes a stark mismatch between state policies and student interests revealing a massive number of vacant undergraduate seats across almost all subjects.

This report is not just about one college, it is a case study of what’s going wrong across most government colleges in Tripura.

Notably, Dasaratha Deb Memorial College, one of the key higher educational institutions in Khowai district, offers undergraduate courses in Science, Arts, and Commerce. After the first round of admissions counseling for the academic session, the vacancy data reveals a shocking trend as students are simply not interested in many of the subjects being offered.

Here’s a stream-wise breakdown:

Science Stream: 198 Seats Offered, 190 Remain Vacant. Physics: 29 out of 40 seats vacant. Chemistry: 27 vacant, Mathematics: 31 vacant, Zoology: 33 vacant, Botany: 31 vacant, Human Physiology: 26 vacant.

Despite these being core science subjects, nearly 96% of seats remain vacant. This indicates that even in subjects traditionally considered academic pillars, student engagement is plummeting.

Arts Stream: 1,710 Seats Offered, 1,321 Remain Vacant. Philosophy: 186 vacant out of 190 (almost full vacancy).

Sanskrit: 171 vacant. Economics: 171 vacant.

Political Science: 143 vacant. History: 137 vacant.

Education: 87 vacant.

English: 96 vacant. Kokborok: 62 vacant. Bengali: 90 vacant.

Philosophy and Sanskrit, in particular, have almost no takers.

The data confirms that students are avoiding traditional subjects that appear increasingly irrelevant to current job markets.

Commerce Stream: 50 Seats Offered, 45 Vacant. Only 5 students have opted for the entire Commerce stream, further indicating how traditional academic models are failing to attract student interest. What is more concerning than the vacancies themselves is the continued apathy of the state’s Higher Education Department. These subjects, especially Philosophy, Sanskrit, and Economics in their current forms, are being offered every year with no evaluation of their real world relevance or student preference. This complete lack of research and curriculum revision by the Higher Education Department has resulted in a repetitive cycle yet, no change is made. There is no student interest analysis, no curriculum modernization, and no departmental review even when vacancy percentages cross less than 90%.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has recommended sweeping reforms, including: Introduction of skill-based and multidisciplinary subjects, Flexible course combinations, integration of vocational training, Focus on employability and innovation. But in Tripura, these reforms remain largely on paper. Colleges like Dasaratha Deb Memorial College still run on the same outdated structure that existed decades ago. Courses like: Data Science, Environmental Science, Tourism & Hospitality, Entrepreneurship, Digital Media, Public Health, Sports Management, Cybersecurity

are missing entirely from college curriculums.

Students are thus forced to migrate outside the state, spending lakhs in other metros and neighboring states, incurring financial stress on families.

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