Patna: Come July, as many as 213 new degree colleges will start functioning in different blocks of the state. The education department is making necessary arrangements to launch these institutions from the 2026–27 academic session under the ‘Unnat Shiksha, Ujjwal Bhavishya’ (Advanced Education–Bright Future) theme of the state government’s ‘Saat Nishchay-3’ programme.State higher education director Navin Kumar Agrawal said the government has decided to establish degree colleges in underserved blocks to boost the state’s gross enrollment ratio (GER) in higher education.“The government aims to bring higher education closer to rural students, especially girls, under the ‘Saat Nishchay’ scheme. In the first phase, degree colleges will be opened in 213 blocks where no constituent or affiliated degree college exists at present. The long-term goal is to have a degree college in each of the state’s 534 blocks,” he said.Agrawal added that blocks in districts such as Patna, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Rohtas and Saran have been identified for the new institutions. “The task of identifying land and buildings has been entrusted to the district magistrates concerned. So far, 208 buildings—generally higher secondary schools—have been selected in as many blocks, while the rest will be finalized soon. To ensure the timely start of the academic session, schools with permanent campuses have been chosen for setting up the colleges,” he said.Academic activities in all these colleges are scheduled to begin with the new academic session in July. Initially, teaching will start with six subjects under the arts stream—Hindi, English, sociology, political science, economics and history.“As the appointment of teachers in these subjects through the Bihar State University Service Commission will take time, faculty from existing colleges in neighboring areas will be deputed to these institutions,” Agrawal said.He further said that apart from opening new colleges, the government has also initiated steps to upgrade 55 well-established institutions into ‘centres of excellence’ to improve the quality of higher education. “These centers will focus on employment-oriented education, help restore academic excellence and contribute to the state’s overall development,” he added.