PRAYAGRAJ, June 1 -- The state government has released Rs 1.38 crore for books and laboratory equipment and other essentials for the 46 newly constructed government degree colleges set to begin operations from July 1. These colleges are part of the 71 new government degree colleges being constructed in the state, with 69 of these expected to be fully ready to start academic activities sessions from 2025-26. Special secretary (higher education), Girijesh Kumar Tyagi, sent a missive dated May 26 informing of the budget approval in this regard to the Director of Higher Education, Amit Bhardwaj. The missive, a copy of which is with HT, informs that a provision of Rs 10 crore has been made for each of these 46 new government degree colleges. As the first installment, financial approval of Rs 3 lakh per college (Rs 1 lakh for books and Rs 2 lakhs for laboratory equipment), i.e. a total of Rs 1.38 crore, was released for the same. The 46 colleges for which the budget has been released include Rajkiya Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Phulpur at Prayagraj, Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya at Sirathu in Kaushambi, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Rajkiya Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Kerakat at Jaunpur, Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya in Majhawan at Mirzapur, Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya in Barki Sevapuri in Varanasi among others. The officers of the Directorate of Higher Education are now busy in preparation to send the requisition for the posts of Assistant Professors approved in these colleges to the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission. In these 71 new colleges, in-principle approval has been given for a total of 1,562 posts to be filled through direct recruitment, including 1,065 posts of assistant professors, and formal orders are expected to be issued very soon, said officials. Till regular appointments are completed for these new institutions, classes will be run by deputing teachers from other colleges. The special thing is that in accordance with the new National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, all three streams of science, commerce, and arts will be taught in these colleges. Most of the existing172 government degree colleges already running in the state have only one or two streams, but in view of the provision of promoting inter-disciplinary studies in NEP-2020, it has been decided to run all three streams in the new colleges, explained officials....