Siliguri, Jan. 10: The Bengal government has cleared the proposal for three new colleges in Siliguri along with a host of other education projects.

Construction of a government college at Matigara will start this year, while two government-sponsored colleges at Sevoke Road (Munshi Premchand College) and Naxalbari are expected to start functioning from the next academic session.

Siliguri deputy mayor Nurul Islam made the announcement at the district CPM office here today. He was part of a four-member delegation that met Bengal higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury in Calcutta yesterday.

“The Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority has earmarked a two-acre plot for the government college and will hand it over for free. The other two colleges will start by offering arts subjects,” said urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, who led the delegation from Siliguri.

The delegation managed to get a number of other proposals cleared by Roy Chowdhury and school education minister Partha Dey .

Fifty-two vacant teaching posts in colleges across the Siliguri subdivision will be filled up. Till then, part-timers will be appointed to the posts with the state government paying their salaries.

Dey, on his part, agreed to the demand of recruiting 600 more schoolteachers and upgrading 14 high schools to higher secondary schools.

• Government college at Matigara
• Two degree colleges at Sevoke Road and Naxalbari
• Science stream in Siliguri Women’s College and Bagdogra College
• Introduction of MBA in Siliguri College of Commerce and subjects like astronomy, astrophysics, genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology in Siliguri College and Surya Sen College
• Filling up of 52 teaching posts in colleges across Siliguri subdivision
• Higher Secondary classes in 14 high schools
• A girls’ school in Siliguri
• Recruitment of 600 schoolteachers to reduce teacher-student ratio to 1:40