Centralised portal to regulate pvt affiliated colleges in Bihar

The objective is to regulate the mushrooming growth of substandard affiliated colleges, usher in greater transparency in the way they function and better service conditions to teachers and staff working there and ensure accountability.

All affiliated colleges and those seeking fresh affiliation would now required to apply through a portal of the department of education, government of Bihar, to be launched Tuesday by education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, officials said.

The portal will be launched on Tuesday by education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary. (HT File)

The objective is to regulate the mushrooming growth of substandard affiliated colleges, usher in greater transparency in the way they function and better service conditions to teachers and staff working there and ensure accountability.

Bihar government had last month tightened the parameters for of giving performance grant to the aided intermediate colleges and degree colleges by making presentation of audited accounts a prerequisite. It will have direct impact on 602 intermediate colleges and 225 affiliated degree colleges, which were awaiting funding, including backlog for years.

Earlier, the colleges got affiliation directly from the universities and this led to complaints of serious irregularities made to the Governor, who is the chancellor of state universities, as well as the state government. The Raj Bhawan had also constituted committees of vice chancellors to regulate these colleges in the past, but many members resigned, alleging pressure from the affiliated colleges.

Now, the affiliated colleges have to apply online and after that, there is timeline for different procedures to be completed, including inspection of the institutions and submission of report. In case of deficiencies, notice would be served to the institutions for their removal within a time frame. The final decision will rest with the state government.

“When the government gives grants to affiliated colleges, it will like accountability and transparency to be maintained. At present, the same land deed is shown for two-three institutions, there is no principal trustee who would be accountable in case of many institutions and there are issues with the way government grant meant for salary to teachers and staff is disbursed. The government is accountable for every penny it spends. Why not colleges?” said a senior department official.

This is not the first time the government has tried to regulate the mushrooming affiliated colleges. It had abolished unaided education policy on March 26, 2008, and decided to make payments to institutions on the basis of their performance, directly linked to pass percentage of actual number of students, in the hope that things would improve, but it did not. Instead, a new concept of non-attending colleges gained currency, where students were not required to attend classes and could directly take exams.

“The effort is to help the genuine colleges and the teachers and staff working there so that the students could benefit. For sham institutions, it will be difficult,” said minister Choudhary.