Issue :   
December 2018 Edition of Power Politics is updated.         December 2018 Edition of Power Politics is updated.
Issue:December' 2018

QUALITY OF EDUCATION

A grim scenario

MR Dua

Prakash Javadekar Astrominal conflicts, controversies and contrarieties used to rage thick and fast, day in and day out when the debutant Union minister, Smriti Irani, presided over the Human Resource Development Ministry for nearly 28 months beginning May 2014. While herself being (a proven) undergraduate, she made numerous university vicechancellors, directors of IITs and IIMs wait outside her office who travelled several miles to see her to sort out serious academic issues of higher education and research.
Many fought running battles with Ms Irani on appointments, funding research and innovation projects of which she might not even be knowledgeable or aware of. Many of them won while some others lost. (Remember, Delhi University VC Dinesh Singh and IIT-Delhi Director who fought and emerged unaffected albeit her severe slamming). The posts of VC and IIT Director of India’s many universities and IITs are deemed to be most prestigious and of topmost academic rank. A registrar is only the administrative head.

Dinesh Singh However, under even Ms Irani’s successor, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, things don’t seem to have altered much. And it is rather regrettable to state that only recently, nearly a dozen vicechancellors and heads of institutions of higher education in various regions of India who have either been replaced, sacked or made to quit their positions. The reasons are diverse, many and unpleasant -- unholy deeds of plagiarism in research, academic incompetence or non-academic — behavioural idiosyncrasies, or financial or administrative mismanagement, indiscretionary acts of commission and omission or several other fraudulent acts in appointments, approvals and disapproval of schemes.

Smriti Irani It’s also sad to underline that while during yesteryears, these topnotch honorable academic positions never used to be under any suspicion, clout, dispute or discussion when eminent personages such as Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Husain, Dr VKRV Rao, AN Jha or Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar or his brother Lakshmanaswamy used to adorn these highly respected chairs of eminent educational positions in the country. But, unfortunately, these days, many of the incumbents of these positions have been or are being removed, sacked, dismissed unceremoniously, or just facilitated to leave.

S Radhakrishnan The recent most example is that of the removal of Arvind Agarwal, Vice- Chancellor of Motihari’s Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar. Agarwal was alleged to have indulged in faking and ‘falsification’ of his educational degrees, and was said to have ‘fudged information about his PhD qualification and academic performance at the undergraduate level.’
According to media reports, Agarwal’s quitting as head of a Central university is the tenth case under the UPA-2 and second NDA regime. Besides the Moithari case, NINE other VCs of Central universities have been facilitated, or faced inquiries and had to leave.

Arvind Agarwal The recent most example is that of the removal of Arvind Agarwal, Vice- Chancellor of Motihari’s Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar. Agarwal was alleged to have indulged in faking and ‘falsification’ of his educational degrees, and was said to have ‘fudged information about his PhD qualification and academic performance at the undergraduate level.’
According to media reports, Agarwal’s quitting as head of a Central university is the tenth case under the UPA-2 and second NDA regime. Besides the Moithari case, NINE other VCs of Central universities have been facilitated, or faced inquiries and had to leave.
These include the vice-chancellors of Pondicherry Central University; Visva Bharati; Hemvati Nandan Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand; Delhi University; Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi; Allahabad University; Tripura University; Manipur University; and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi.

Meanwhile, according to the University Grants Commission, there are nearly 900 universities in India, including 47 central, 370 state, 282 private, 123 deemed tobe and others. While the central and deemed to-be universities are directly under the Union HRD Ministry, the states manage 370; UGC- approved private ones are looked after by eminent persons (such as Prem Azimji or Shiv Nadar). They conduct their teaching, research and other academic activities with the approval and guidance of the HRD Ministry.

AN Jha Incidentally, for appointments as vice-chancellor, the UGC-prescribed qualifications include a PhD in any area of university’s teaching specializations; academically distinguished career with ‘at least 10 years of teaching experience as professor at a university or an equivalent reputed research institution / academic administrative organization; highest level of competence, integrity and morals and institutional commitment.’
The VC will be selected by a searchcommittee- nominated panel of three / five independent, eminent public men-women / educators.
Be that as it may, it’s well known that unplanned, mindless, haphazard and relentless establishment of new central, state and private universities with the aim of merely expanding the horizons of higher education is already proving extremely hurtful to the overall achievement of literacy proportions in general and higher education in particular.

Such a trend, if not arrested and halted urgently, will prove enormously injurious to quality and outcomes of high standardlearning, and push backward further progress of enriching national levels of knowledge acquisition. Already, India has hardly made its presence felt in the top 200 global seats of learning.
Sadly, not one of nearly 900 universities or institutes finds a venerable spot there, while tiny nations like Singapore does occupy a respectable one. It’s high time serious and concerted attention was given to this very crucial factor.

Prem Azimji and Shiv Nadar Besides, since the Union government is singularly responsible for a sturdy health of higher educational institutions under its direct control, systematic efforts are needed to properly fill these vacancies with adequately qualified teachers. Rough estimates put these vacancies, at several academic degree levels, at nearly 3,000. As per Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar’s statement in the Lok Sabha on July 28 last, nearly 35 per cent teachers' posts are vacant in Central universities; faculty vacancies in IITs are 34 per cent; 5 per cent in engineering colleges. The enrollment in engineering colleges is declining fast.
And it’s no secret that ‘adequatelytrained and aptly-qualified staff in most disciplines are just not easily available. This is true increasingly of new subjects such as policy planning, climatology, journalism and mass communication, economic-cumfinancial management, and several other newly innovated and emerging academic areas of study, being taught by, particularly, newlyestablished universities and institutes.
But it’s remarkable that very often, any number of spurious, substandard and sparsely-researched on insignificant problems, doctoral dissertations are being submitted by students with low academic scores. This writer has had the experience of disapproving at least four such theses from as many Indian universities in my own area of journalism and mass communication.
Doctoral degree research and thesis writing need specially designed courses for conducting quality research in areas of significant universal import. A PhD dissertation is expected to add ‘new’ knowledge to the overall body of research in that area. Teachers at new universities should be competent enough to undertake and guide research in exclusive areas.
It’s good to learn that the Union HRD-Ministry has launched faculty development programmes in popular disciplines. This is said to be ‘a unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty dubbed ARPIT—annual refreshment programme in teaching.’ It’s believed to be available online by using the massive open online courses platform, SWAYAM.
In addition, the ministry has also started another scheme, LEAP -- Leadership for Academicians Programme, to be implemented through India’s 15 top institutions like IITs, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research will include a brief training session in many foreign campuses of eminent American universities such as Harvard and Purdue, and the UK’s Oxford, and Singapore’s National Technical University.
According to Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, the initiatives are ‘set to transform the quality of teaching and improve leaders and enhancing the quality of higher education institutions.’ Despite these initiatives, it’s only ‘constant updation to keep abreast of recent developments’ that can enrich teaching-learning experiences.