|
QUALITY OF EDUCATION
A grim scenarioMR 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. 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.’
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.’ 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.’ 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.
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. |