Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC)

The UGC has directed all Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to establish Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC) in Universities with the following broad objective: “To oversee the effective implementation of policies and programmes for disadvantaged groups, to provide guidance and counselling with respect to academic, financial, social and other matters and to enhance the diversity within the campus.”

Primary Functions of EOC:

The primary functions of the EOC are:

1. To sensitize Universities about the problems of the marginalized/disadvantaged sections of the society so that they are able to improve their performance not only in the education but also in other spheres of life.
2. To sensitize the mainstream sections of the society towards the problems of the marginalized sections of the society.
3. To monitor the various schemes/policies of the Government of India and State Governments relating to marginalized/disadvantaged sections.
4. To ensure that there is an effective functional SC/ST Cell as has been mandated in the DoPT Brochure on Reservation for SC/ST, OBC and EWS in Services.
5. To also become an effective tool for gender sensitization and ensure participation in all socially relevant activities of the Universities and NSS.

The primary functions of the EOC are:

Other functions of EOC:

o To ensure equity and equal opportunity to the community at large in the campuses and bring about social inclusion.
o To enhance the diversity among the students, teaching and non-teaching staff population and at the same time eliminate the perception of discrimination.
o To create a socially congenial atmosphere for academic interaction and for the growth of healthy interpersonal relationships among the students coming from various social backgrounds.
o To look into the grievances of the weaker section of society and suggest amicable solution to their problems.
o To disseminate the information related to schemes and programmes for the welfare of the socially weaker section as well as notifications/memoranda, office orders of the Government, or other related agencies/organizations issued from time to time.
o To prepare barrier free formalities/procedures for admission/registration of students belonging to the disadvantaged groups of society.
o To establish coordination with the Government and other agencies/organizations to mobilize academic and financial resources to provide assistance to students of the disadvantaged groups.
o To organize periodic meetings to monitor the progress of different schemes.
o To adopt measures to ensure due share of utilization by SC/ST, OBC, PWD and EWS in admissions, recruitments (teaching and non-teaching posts) and to improve their performances.

Equal Opportunity Cell at HBNI

In response to the UGC’s guidelines, the HBNI set up the Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC) to carry out the above stated mandatory functions.

The EOC, HBNI shall function in the following manner:
The EOC shall address issues of the respective communities among faculty, staff and students of HBNI and shall have jurisdiction over all the Constituent Institutions/Off Campus Centres (CIs/OCCs). The EOC shall monitor, coordinate and maintain database across all the CIs/OCCs of HBNI.

The Nodal Officer of EOC, shall be responsible not only for protective functions such as grievances redressal with the help of the grievance redressal committees, but also for promotional functions such as awareness generation and capacity building among the concerned social categories.