What Ails Indian Universities?

Speaking on the importance of the universities Jawaharlal Nehru once said "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for progress, for the adventure of ideas and for search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duty adequately, then, it is well with the nation and the people". The Indian universities are far from reaching the goal that Nehru had envisioned. In reality the universities have remained traditional with no thrust towards innovation and enterprise which is of major concern to a rapidly changing society like ours. The situation has worsened to such an extent that recently in a landmark decision the Rajasthan High Court has given a ruling which bars political activities in the university campus. The judgment comes in the wake of rise of trade union politics in the universities and the resultant devaluation of higher education in India. The ruling is the final nail in the coffin and even though is excessive in nature and content, it has thrown open the question that all is not well inside the universities.

At the first instance the ruling of the court should not be welcomed as it goes against the democratic setup of the society. Further it should also be taken into account that the system itself permits politics by academicians. Universities are seen as mirror of social values and social concerns. They are centers of free and unrestrained thinking and their function is to create and protect a climate of reflection essential for free and bold pursuit of truth, irrespective of where it leads. A university is both as centre of preservation and improvement as well as pace setter in regard to cultivation of national character, habits and tastes. As such they got the role of preparing the future leadership and that is the reason that perhaps universities are the only governmental sector where political activities were allowed freely and openly. However the decision of the honorable High Court reminds us that perhaps the much cherished aims have not been realized and instead the universities have become breeding grounds for political patronage. The decision forces us to introspect. One must look into the reasons which have led to the current state of affairs. Postmortems will help in identifying the causes responsible.

I think the basic reason for the collapse of the system has to be found in the system itself. The unplanned proliferation of universities in India is one reason. When the University Grants Commission was being set up there was a demand to put higher education in the central list so that the centre could have a control not only in developing a national education system but also in maintaining standards. Speaking in the constituent assembly in August 1949 Dr Ambedkar had pointed out that "it was absolutely essential both in the interest of the centre as well as provinces that the standards ought to be maintained on an All-India basis. He pointed out that provinces "are in a hurry to establish research institutions or universities or likely to lower their standards in order to give the impression to the world at large that they are producing much better results than they did before". The University Education Commission set up under the Chairmanship of S Radhakrishnan insisted that initiative in public education needed to be taken by both provincial and the central government and therefore it suggested that education be placed in the concurrent list. Later the government attempted to regulate the universities through "universities regulation of Standard Bill (1951) which provided for setting of Central Council of University Education for the coordination and determination of academic standards in higher education. This bill proposed that no university established before the proposed act by or under a state act would be deemed to be a university unless the central government by notification made a declaration to that effect. However the state governments except one opposed the provision when the bill was circulated for their advice mainly on three grounds. One, it was for the universities themselves to regulate, maintain and coordinate their own academic standards. Second, if an outside agency undertook this job, it would amount to violating the university autonomy. Third, standards were low because of lack of funds and once adequate funds were made available there would be hardly any problems. Neither Dr Ambedkar's view nor the provisions of the above said bill was ultimately taken up. Instead the UGC Act 1956 had two important provisions missing which could have given it the teeth, i.e. the provision which empowered it of approving or not approving a university established under state legislature as well as that of approving or disapproving a degree conferred by a university if the said university failed to carry out directions given to it. In the name of autonomy of the states the Act was diluted only to prove in the subsequent years the ghost of Ambedkar correct. Perhaps the UGC realized it and therefore an amendment was made in 1972 under which it did get some power but by this time the damage had already been done.

This spirit led to sudden emergence of new universities and colleges- mostly hastily conceived, improperly planned, poorly financed, meagerly equipped, not too ambitiously staffed and inefficiently administered proliferating under local pressure in the hope of political gains. There was absence of norms and an open door admission as well as recruitment policy was adopted. The problem got further compounded because of the rapid expansion of the secondary education thereby increasing the rural urban student migration. Further bulk of these students were first generation learners and sought admissions without realizing that the need was of professional education and not general. These students were sooner to be engulfed by the demagogic leadership and soon politics became a regular feature of campuses all over India. Political parties became active on campuses, seeking to dominate academic governance and to put their followers into positions of influence. Similarly the parties got involved in student politics as a result all regards of norms of academic life got lost. It is pertinent to point out that the massification of higher education led to the erosion of core academic values which resulted in an incorrect recruitment policy. Teachers were recruited on large scale often ignoring norms and practices. This had a demeaning effect on the noble profession of teaching, resulting in the entry of teachers who were never committed to teaching, taking it often as a part time job. The other negative consequence was the division of the academia on ideological lines. In fact so deep is the divide that even today there is no unanimity on the curriculum in almost all universities. In fact the leadership often takes refuge in the academia for its political gains as is evident from the Safforanization and detoxification campaigns.

So the latest decision of the High Court is an eye opener which should be taken seriously. I do not support what the honorable High Court has said but I do believe that the System must be tightened. The beginning should be made by limiting admissions in the universities and making it strictly merit based. Yes access to higher education should be to all and towards that end alternatives other then formal ones must be looked into. Similarly to develop a national outlook and character in the universities a genuinely open recruitment system must be initiated. Even though in theory this system does exist it is nowhere to be seen in reality. It is not strange that deterioration in higher education is talked about when the state is consistently withdrawing support from it. A growing number of part-time and poorly trained faculties in the universities has also give a setback to the system by promoting corrupting tendencies. This has also led to poor facilities for the academia. Yes, the salary of an average teacher seems to be handsome at first sight however with the lack of infrastructural support it becomes useless. Then there is the problem of work environment. Bulk of the universities have a very unhygienic work environment and do not even have sitting space for teachers There is also a myth associated with the teaching profession that the teachers do not teach. While this may be true of a miniscule number the general impression needs to be corrected. The academia should gear itself towards restoring the dignity of its members. Universities require a vibrant and strong civil society the same way as nations do. The academic system needs basic financial as well as moral support so as to provide effective teaching and creative research. Integrity and meritocracy in the universities is the need of the time. It is strange that in a country where the present President and the Prime Minister belong to the academia such problems remain. I hope they are listening.

by Chandrachur Singh

What Ails Indian Universities?

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