Education minister asks varsities to buckle up

In a major departure from the past, Choudhary had, last month, started dealing directly with the universities to stem the rot, especially completely derailed academic sessions which have led to widespread discontent among students.

Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Thursday held a meeting with vice-chancellors and senior officials of state universities based in capital Patna to discuss ways to improve quality of education and related issues.

Bihar education minister Vijay Choudhary during a seminar in Patna on Thursday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

“I am aware of your problems, viz. lack of teachers, inadequate infrastructure, dearth of 3rd and 4th grade staff, but today I am not here to listen to them. Today, I am here to discuss solutions. After all, if Patna University was known as the Oxford of the East in the past, it was not because of its majestic buildings. It was because of the scholarly teachers and unmatched academic environment. Even if the institutions have just 30% of the sanctioned strength of teachers, are the available resources being put to optimal use? More than the resources, which the government is striving to make available, it is the mindset that needs to change to bring about qualitative improvement,” he said at the meeting.

In a major departure from the past, Choudhary had, last month, started dealing directly with the universities to stem the rot, especially completely derailed academic sessions which have led to widespread discontent among students. So far, such initiatives were the preserve of the Governor, who is the Chancellor of state universities.

In Thursday’s interaction, VCs and senior officials of Pataliputra University (PPU), Patna University, Nalanda Open University and Aryabhatt Knowledge University were present.

PPU VC RK Singh, PU VC Girish Choudhary and Prof NK Agarwal from the state higher education council (SHEC) also gave presentations on various aspects, including research, choice-based credit system (CBCS) and NAAC status.

Bihar’s performance in NAAC has remained very poor despite a series of meetings in the last one decade at the level of Raj Bhawan, which were also addressed by former UGC and NAAC chairmen. The AQAR (annual quality assessment report) of several colleges also got rejected, while none of the state institutions figure anywhere in the list of national institutional ranking framework (NIRF) in any category yet again.

The minister said that the system would have to evolve to address the issues confronting higher education, which has earned the state a bad name due to delayed exams and lack of classes. “Teachers don’t engage classes and the students don’t go to the colleges and universities. I have asked universities to appoint ad hoc faculty members. Now it is for the universities to do it. The attendance of both teachers and students is essential. Once the available resources are utilised to the optimal, the government will also feel encouraged to do whatever is required. The system is meant for the students and they have to remain at the nucleus,” he said, pulling up universities for not submitting timely utilisation of funds.

Additional chief secretary (education) Dipak Kumar Singh said it was sad that despite approving budget for universities in advance and making provision of online transfer of funds, delayed salary payment was still an issue. “Let me tell you, we have to beg for funds for the universities from the finance department after delay, as the universities don’t submit timely utilisation. How can the system run if there is no submission of utilisation certificate. It is the job of the universities,” he said.

Last month, at a review meeting attended by the VCs, registrars, exam controllers of state universities and top officials of the education department, Choudhary had directed them that all pending and backlog undergraduate. post-graduate and vocational exams and results must be cleared by December 2022 so that the academic sessions could be streamlined in the interest of the students. However, that seems unlikely at this stage.