Srinagar: Kashmir’s lone School of Architecture, which is running from a government college in Srinagar, is set to be shifted to another makeshift accommodation, this time at Safapora Ganderbal, as the authorities have
failed to set up its permanent campus.
The School of Architecture running from a building inside Government Degree College, Bemina, since its inception in 2017, was established amid rising demand for Bachelors course in Architecture, for which aspirants had to
move outside the valley.
However, dearth of space has been a major source of inconvenience for students at Bemina college.
The Higher Education Department has decided to shift the Architecture school to Government Engineering College Safapora in district Ganderbal from the upcoming academic session, an insider at the institute said.
The next batch of students will take classes at the Ganderbal College and the current students will also be shifted to the new space, the insider added.
In May this year, Kashmir Reader carried a report on the dearth of infrastructure and faculty at the institute, which does not even have a full time director of its own.
The additional charge of the post has been given to Principal, Degree College.
After the KR report Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan had directed officials at the institute to inspect the vacated campuses of the Central University of Kashmir at Nowgam and the Baghi Dilawar Khan College
for additional space till a permanent campus was established, sources told Kashmir Reader adding that none of the two was feasible.
“We need big halls as per the SOA specifications, while as the Baghi Dilawar Khan College has only normal class rooms. There are no halls there,” the source said.
The CUK’s vacated campus at Nowgam, as per the source, turned out to be “costly” for them.
“The monthly rent there amounts to lakhs of rupees. There is not that much budget (with the Higher Education Department),” she added.
The SOA Bemina offering a five-year Bachelor’s programme in Architecture (B Arch) is affiliated to the University of Kashmir and is also registered with the Council of Architecture (CoA).
Admissions to the Bachelor’s course are made on the basis of the ‘National Aptitude Test for Architecture (NATA) as per the CoA guidelines.

Irshad Khan