BHOPAL: As many as 80 private engineering colleges and 46 private polytechnics have closed in Madhya Pradesh during a decade.
Importantly, the state capital Bhopal tops the list, with 45 private colleges (28 engineering colleges and 17 polytechnics) having closed between the period April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2025.
The state’s higher education minister Inder Singh Parmar, in written reply to questions on the issue by two seniors Congress MLAs -- present Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar and former LoP Ajay Arjun Singh -- attributed the growing inclination among students for other courses (non-engineering courses) at national and state level, for the closure of the engineering colleges.
Out of the 80 private engineering colleges which closed between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2025, maximum 16 colleges closed in 2016, followed by 15 in 2018, 12 in 2017, 11 in 2015, eight each in 2019 and 2021, five in 2022, three in 2023 and two in 2020.
No private engineering college, however, closed during 2024 or the first three months of 2025.
In case of private polytechnics, a maximum 13 colleges shut down operations in 2018, followed by six each in 2021, 2022 and 2024, followed by five in 2016 and three each in 2017 and 2023.
During the COVID-19 pandemic years 2020-2022, as many as 15 private engineering colleges closed in the state, while 14 private polytechnics also shut down their operations.
Among the 80 private engineering colleges which closed in a decade, 28 closed their operations in state’s administrative and political capital Bhopal, followed by 17 in Indore, 16 in Gwalior and seven in Jabalpur, which meant that 85% or 68 of them were operating in the four major cities.
In the case of the 46 private polytechnics, which downed their shutters within a decade, as many as 30 colleges or 65% of those colleges were located in the four prime cities.
Out of those 30 colleges, a maximum 17 were in Bhopal, six in Indore, four in Jabalpur and three in Gwalior.
According to the higher education minister Inder Singh Parmar, currently there are around 1.71 lakh students enrolled in 124 private engineering colleges and over 18,600 students enrolled in 69 private polytechnics in the state.