Private sector in education is facing many challenges and these are being addressed by reviewing the functioning of regulatory bodies like University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), government told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani, while replying to a debate on a bill for setting up of one more central university in Bihar, said higher education per se is facing challenges and "there is a long way we need to go."
She promised to fast-track filling of vacancies of faculties of central universities, including Vice Chancellors, and make the process transparent by letting common people to express their views through a government Website MyGov.in.
When a mention was made about private colleges, she said, "I am aware of the matter that there are challenges in the private sector. There has been several representations from the private sector and possibly their engagement with the regulators (UGC and AICTE) to be looked into." She informed the House that "we are reviewing the (functioning of) UGC, AICTE and also NCTE, the demand which has come from across the states."
About two months back, the government has set two separate committees to review the functioning of UGC and AICTE. The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which seeks to set up one more central university at Motihari in Bihar after Mahatma Gandhi, was then passed by voice vote. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on November 26. CPI member D Raja earlier demanded the government to establish an expert committee to look into various issues undermining the quality of education including infrastructure, adequate faculty and enrolment of students.
Favouring the suggestion, Irani stated that the government would try to constitute a committee in this regard.
About vacancies, Irani said she has asked all the Vice Chancellors to send a report with regard to this aspect in their respective institutions. The ministry would extend all possible assistance on this issue," she added. To enhance the quality of education in central universities, the minister said all the central universities would have to get accredited with NAAC by February 2015. Listing out the initiatives taken by her ministry, she said highlighted the launch of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan to discourage brain drain. She also said that till the infrastructure problems in North East are addressed, students from that region are encouraged to complete a part of their programme with central universities to get knowledge.
The bill received widespread support from members from various parties in the House. Jairam Ramesh (Cong) supported the move and lauded the role played by former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in carrying out a campaign for the creation of this university. He, however, emphasised the need to ensure control over quality especially that of the faculty. He also spoke on the need for regulating education in private sector as fly by night operators could do damage.
Anil Dave (BJP) expressed happiness that a university named after Mahatma Gandhi was being created and emphasised that it should be ensured that the Vice Chancellor and faculty should be people who believe in Gandhi's philosophy. He said the choice of Vice Chancellors should not be done from among the political theatre.
DMK member Tiruchi Siva also supported the bill to set up the central university in Bihar but emphasised that important issues need to be addressed. He said that thousands of teaching posts are vacant.
Siva urged the minister to see that the Central assistance to states on education is enhanced. Javed Ali Khan (SP), in his maiden speech, suggested that while one university was coming up in Bihar, named after Mahatma Gandhi, and another could be named after leaders like Lok Nayak Jai Prakash or Karpoori Thakur.
He said there are reports that astrology would be taught in universities. Khan said there was no objection to a move to introduce astrology provided such a demand came from academic councils of universities rather than outside. He also said that in several universities, elections to student bodies had not been held.
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