Cabinet approves major education reforms bills

The noose is slowly but surely tightening around politicians and the moneyed, who have made education a business.
As part of the government’s education reform policy, the Union cabinet cleared on Friday the proposed Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010. The draft bill seeks to bar the practice of capitation fees and punish private colleges, especially engineering and medical institutions, cheating students and failing to keep the promise of quality education.

The fee structure in private engineering and medical colleges is fixed by a state-level committee headed by a retired high court judge, but there have been many instances of institutes charging much higher fees than suggested by the panel.

Certain institutes demand donations for admission and do not issue receipts for payments made by students. They give misleading advertisements in the media with the intent to cheat students. They also withhold certificates and other documents of students who want to quit.

The bill, likely to be tabled in parliament after the recess, lists a fine of up to Rs50 lakh for institutes indulging in “criminal” unfair practices and an imprisonment of up to three years for their administrators. It says if an institute makes a certain promise in its prospectus and fails to keep it, or charges capitation fees from students, it would be considered a criminal offence. Charging fees other than that mentioned in the prospectus of an institute will be considered a cognisable offence, it says, and empowers police to arrest administrators of institutes committing such an offence without a warrant.

“Capitation fees charged by institutes will be a cognisable offence. People will be prosecuted without fear or favour,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal said.

“We are very serious about it (capitation fees). This is destroying our education system,” he told a press conference. The purpose of the bill, Sibal said, was to ensure that people get quality education.
The cabinet also cleared two other education reform bills — to set up tribunals to adjudicate campus disputes and a National Accreditation Agency (NAA) to accredit and rank institutions.

The tribunals, to be set up at the Centre and in states, will fast track adjudication of disputes involving malpractices and harassment of students. This means, disputing parties, which could be students, teachers or education institutions, will no longer have to go to courts with their grievances. The national-level tribunal, which will have nine members, will deal with all matters concerning regulatory bodies in higher education and disputes between institutes in two or more states. It would act as an appellate body against the orders of state tribunals, which will adjudicate matters concerning teachers, employees and students of institutions.

“The authority [NAA] will set norms for accreditation. The process of accreditation will be outsourced to agencies of integrity registered with the authority,” Sibal said.

At present, accreditation is voluntary. But with new authority in place, it will become mandatory.