Srinagar, Sept 9 (JKNS): The Directorate of Colleges, Jammu and Kashmir, has launched the JK_SIGMA mobile application to provide students of Government Degree Colleges across the Union Territory with a direct, confidential and accessible platform for raising grievances, receiving official information and tracking complaints till resolution.
Director Colleges Dr Sheikh Ajaz Bashir as per news agency JKNS, released the Students Integrated Grievance and Messaging Application (JK_SIGMA), which has been developed in-house by the Directorate of Colleges.
The application extends to smartphones a platform that has been serving students through the Directorate of Colleges website since June 2025.
SIGMA was launched by the Higher Education Department in June 2025 as part of its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives centred on the Directorate’s policy planning and development portal.
The initiative aims to empower students by providing them with a confidential and dependable channel to raise concerns that remain unresolved at the college level, while also ensuring that official information reaches students directly.
Around 1.6 lakh students across 142 colleges are presently registered on the SIGMA platform, where a substantial number of grievances have been received and resolved since its launch.
Speaking on the occasion, Director Colleges Dr Sheikh Ajaz Bashir said the transition to a mobile application would further ease access for students by removing barriers between them and the department.
The application is available free of charge on the Google Play Store and can also be accessed through the SIGMA portal.
JK_SIGMA enables students to receive official bulletins issued by the Higher Education Department as well as their respective colleges, submit grievances, track their progress till resolution and rate the quality of responses received.
The feedback mechanism will allow the Directorate to monitor institutional responsiveness in addition to tracking the number of grievances received and resolved.
The application also allows bulletins to remain available on the device even without an active internet connection.
On the administrative side, JK_SIGMA provides role-based access to college and Directorate functionaries, along with statistical dashboards and alerts for grievances pending beyond the prescribed period.
Access to the application is restricted to students already enrolled on the SIGMA Portal. The identity of a student raising a grievance is not disclosed to the concerned college except with the student’s consent.
The application has been developed in-house by the Directorate of Colleges under the patronage of Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Higher Education Department, Shri Ram Niwas Sharma, IAS, who has been promoting ICT initiatives aimed at improving ease of access for students and staff.
The department said the initiatives reflect its commitment towards building a responsive, transparent and student-centric higher education system in furtherance of its goal of academic excellence.
Colleges have been directed to verify student records on the Directorate Portal, conduct awareness campaigns regarding the application and ensure that grievances received through the platform are addressed within two days. (JKNS)