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Autonomy In Peril:LEAVE HIGHER EDUCATION BODIES ALONE, by Prof. Kishore Gandhi,14 August, 2006 Print E-mail

EVENTS AND ISSUES

New Delhi, 14 August, 2006

Autonomy In Peril

LEAVE HIGHER EDUCATION BODIES ALONE

By Prof. Kishore Gandhi

India today is on the threshold of a major transition, the transition to knowledge power, the foundations of which have been built brick by brick on the pattern of basic building blocks, by the outstanding statesmen and scientists, such as, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, C.V. Raman, Meghnad Saha, Homi Bhabha, D.S. Kothari, Vikram Sarabhai, M.S. Swaminathan, Raja Ramanna, M.G.K. Menon and a galaxy of others.

It is tribute to the creative genius of Maulana Abdul Kalam, the first Education Minister of free India, for setting up the University Education Commission, under the Chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan.  The Commission (1948-49) examined in-depth the fragmentary system of higher education and submitted a comprehensive Report to the Government.  It was in pursuance to the Report that the Government established the Agricultural Universities all over the country on the pattern of Land Grant Scheme of the U.S., which brought about a green revolution in the country.  Also, the University Grants Commission was established in 1956 by the mandate of the Parliament Act to disburse grants and coordinate educational standards in the country.

In 1947, the country had only 19 Universities, approximately 400 colleges with an intake capacity of 25000 students.  But after independence, there has been an exponential increase in all these numbers.  At the end of financial year 2004-05, the total number of Colleges recognized by the University Grants Commission under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956 was 5589.  There were 343 universities and university-level institutions including 211 State, 18 Central, 96 Deemed Universities, 13 Institutes of National importance and 5 institutions established under State Legislation Act.

This is not the place to discuss in-depth the expansion of higher education which has been viewed by sociologists as the villain of piece to the entire educational crisis. Looking in-depth, the sectoral dislocation in budgetary resources, one is appalled by the fact that immediately after our collapse in the Indo-Chinese War 1962, the leadership of the country woke up from its long slumber and gave top priority to the expansion of science and technical education by establishing Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi, Kanpur, Bombay and Chennai and Regional Engineering Colleges across the country to meet the growing demands of technologists in diversified developmental areas.

The leadership was so much seized with the crucial issue of an integrated development of education at the various sectoral levels: (primary, secondary and tertiary) that the need for improving the quality of education became the buzz word.  There was a good deal of consensus in the academic community, political and social activists that the educational system must be revamped both structurally and substantively to respond to the aspirations of youth and economy.

The Education Commission was appointed by Justice M.C. Chhagla under the Chairmanship of Dr. D.S. Kothari to study the system in-depth and submit a comprehensive report within the shortest span of time.  The Report of Kothari Commission titled “Education Commission and National Development” (1964-66) is a comprehensive analysis of the educational system carrying crucial recommendations on the futuristic agenda of education.  This document continues to be valid to date in terms of the aspirations of youth and development of manpower capability and competencies in diversified disciplines of knowledge to provide a new momentum to economy that is transiting to a global economy.

It takes vision and sagacity to build institutions. They are not just brick and mortar, but are reliant on the strength of the women and men who man and support them.   It was Jawaharlal Nehru, who while replying to Parliamentary debates on the setting up of the Indian Statistical Institute, said that the survival of the democratic process is dependent on the viability of institutions because they look to the future and audit looks at the past.

Foreign experts who often made sarcastic comments on us for investing in high level research and knowledge-based institutions, founded by our outstanding leaders now are attributing as India’s knowledge power in the global economy to these institutions of higher learning. Kenichi Ohmae while introducing the Next Global Stage in 2005 prophetically says: “If, as I believe, the global economy is powered by technology, then knowledge is its precious metal. India’s strength, for example, can be substantially attributed to be sheer volume of its Ph.D in science”.  This clearly follows that we must commit ourselves to the knowledge-based institutions, boldly and squarely and should not be carried away by the regionalist and casteist forces to unleash an agenda of the fragmentation of the country on the basis of caste identity.

If the compulsions of coalition politics are endangering the autonomy of public institutions, we need to build phalanxes against them. The institutions should not be left at the mercy of political leaders who suffer from paranoia, some structural engineering flaw in their psyche and are blocking India’s roadmap to super knowledge and economic power. It is tribute to the creative genius and vision of Prof. Venugopal for fighting vigorously and boldly for preserving the autonomy of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The media and intellectual community should stop Health Minister Ramadoss from destroy the premier research institute in medicine and surgery which has been acclaimed as an outstanding institute in the world in terms of the extension of frontiers of knowledge and few discoveries.  It must reinvent itself and its governance model must be changed to keep the politicians and bureaucrats in abeyance for the sheer survival and renewal of the Institute. 

If Ramadoss could usurp the autonomy of the institute in the Union capital which has the potential reservoir of the intellectual community, what would be the shape of institutions committed to excellence in States where the configuration of regionalist, casteist and religious forces are at the helm of power is an issue that has to be addressed squarely and boldly.  How could they perform their basic objectives as spelt out by Jawaharlal Nehru in his Convocation Address in Allahabad University  in 1947.

The autonomy of these institutes is in peril and every citizen has an obligation to defend it with all his might for the sheer survival of our polity, society and economy.  These institutions have been totally secular in their objectives, scope and functioning and were committed to casteless and an egalitarian and progressive ideology.  Only the merit was the buzzword.

In an open letter to Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, an OBC student of IIT challenged his reservation policy and his design of disturbing the secular character of the IITs and sounded a note of caution that his agenda would trigger a process of desecularization along with the consolidation of majority community identity and this is going to have serious implications for the future of secular India.

This is what seems to be the hidden agenda of the United States and China which are upset by our growing knowledge and economic power and would like to devour us by fair of four means.  Our countrymen should not become pawn in their manipulative temptation.  Hopefully, our politicians are not beyond redemption.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

 

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