MLA seeks another women’s polytechnic college for Hubballi

Prasada Abbayya, Karnataka Slum Development Board Chairman and Hubballi-Dharwad East MLA, has urged the State government to sanction another government polytechnic college exclusively for women in Hubballi, citing the growing number of girl students seeking technical education after Class X.

Raising the issue through a starred question in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Abbayya referred to the information provided by Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi that Karnataka had 109 government, 43 aided, and 135 private polytechnic colleges in 2025-26. Against a total sanctioned intake of 72,057 seats, 46,136 students had secured admission, leaving 25,921 seats vacant.

In Hubballi city, 9,923 students, including 5,106 boys and 4,813 girls, had passed the SSLC examination during the current academic year, Mr. Abbayya said. With education becoming increasingly commercialised, children from economically weaker families were being deprived of higher and technical education, he said. There was, therefore, a need to provide girls with access to technical education locally, he added.

Although the women’s polytechnic college in Hubballi has an intake of 300 seats, it received more than 650 applications. Another polytechnic college, with an intake of 250 seats, received around 750 applications. This clearly indicated the shortage of seats for girl students in the city, he said.

Even though seats were available in polytechnic colleges in rural areas and other districts, parents were reluctant to send their daughters to distant places for education, Mr. Abbayya said. To further develop Hubballi-Dharwad as an educational hub, a separate government women’s polytechnic college should be sanctioned in the Hubballi East constituency, he urged.

Responding to the demand, Mr. Rayaraddi assured the Assembly that the government would obtain comprehensive data on the demand for polytechnic education in Hubballi and the number of seats currently available. A decision on sanctioning a new college would be considered based on the assessment, he said.