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Bengal's university bill draws flak
Saturday December 24, 2011 07:56:47 PM,
IANS
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Kolkata: West Bengal's Trinamool Congress-led government has passed a university bill in
its bid to free higher education from alleged political
interference, but the legislation has raised apprehensions in some
political circles about its real purpose.
The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, was passed
in the assembly Friday, with state Education Minister Bratya Basu
advocating that it would bring more transparency in the
appointments of vice chancellors and pro-vice chancellors of the
state varsities and would provide a free hand to the academics in
taking decisions.
But the opposition is unimpressed.
"It is an immature allegation that we had politicised education
and this bill will free it from politics. It is nothing but a
farce," said Sudarshan Roy Choudhury, former state higher
education minister and CPI-M leader.
"If they are ruling out students from bodies like courts and
councils of the universities, then they should also ban students
from entering universities. How will they stop political
associations of principals and teachers?"
According to the bill, the vice chancellors (VC) would be
appointed by a three-member search committee. The bill has
empowered the chancellor or governor to remove the VC but has
provided the vice chancellors the final say in teacher
recruitment.
"The bill has been drawn up in haste just like other decisions
taken by this government. There should have been more intense
discussions on the bill. It has curbed the democratic rights of
the students," said Kshiti Goswami, state secretary of
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).
The students, both at graduate and post-graduate levels, will be
accommodated in the lower bodies like academic council but there
will be no representation of students in the higher decision
making bodies.
"Though theoretically the bill is good, technically there are lot
of questions. It is a known fact that whoever becomes a VC or
pro-VC gets close to the ruling party. Then how can you
depoliticise education?" asked Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhuri, a
political scientist.
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