NAAC points to politicking as Bihar’s yet another top college slides to ‘C’ rank

After the 156-year old Patna College was ranked ‘C’ in 2019 by NAAC, another premier institution of Bihar, 132-year old BN College has also slid significantly from ‘B++’ to be ranked ‘C’ two years later.

After the 156-year old Patna College, the oldest institution under Patna University and once known as ‘Oxford of the East’, was ranked ‘C’ in 2019 by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), another premier institution of Bihar, 132-year old BN College has also slid significantly from ‘B++’ to be ranked ‘C’ two years later.

One of the key weaknesses cited in the NAAC report for abysmal show of BN College, set up in 1889 and ranked higher with B++ grade earlier, is that “many of the faculty members are actively engaged in the political activities of the state that affects the academic work of the college.. (HT file)

One of the key weaknesses cited in the NAAC report for abysmal show of BN College, set up in 1889 and ranked higher with B++ grade earlier, is that “many of the faculty members are actively engaged in the political activities of the state that affects the academic work of the college”, a well-known fact that institution heads of several colleges in the state talk about but are unable to raise it out of fear of backlash.

Former PU professor and social scientist said that faculty members engaged into full-time politics and not engaging classes was not desirable. “It has both moral and legal aspects. University is not government service and hence teachers cannot be barred from participating in politics and political discourse after their teaching hours, but it cannot be allowed to happen at the cost of teaching. If a teacher gets some political assignment, he should be asked to go on leave and if one is not engaging classes but into full time party activities, there are legal options. Unfortunate, when vice chancellors are political appointees, not much can be expected. When there are large scale vacancies, no better result will come. The system needs to work for systemic improvement,” he added.

The NAAC ratings are a rude shock to the prestigious Patna University, which has been unable to check the slide despite an illustrious past due to varied reasons. Patna Science College and Patna Law College had also earlier barely managed to be just a notch above with ‘B’ grade, while Magadh Mahila College slid from ‘A’ to ‘B++’. Patna University had also barely managed ‘B++’ in the first cycle.

BN College and Vanijya Mahavidyalay had been earlier disqualified by NAAC due to alleged discrepancies in the self-status report (SSR) and unsatisfactory/ or lack of replies to the explanations sought on their claims by NAAC. While BN CoIlege tried to make amends with fresh application and it was accepted, Vanijya developed cold feet.

Other weaknesses identified include large-scale vacant teaching positions, no research projects in the last five years, no post-graduate programme and research centre, no medical facility in the college and improper condition of hostel and management system. A senior college functionary admitted that around eight of the 53 faculty members were actively into politics and affiliated to mainstream political parties.

The most alarming trend is that like most other institutions of higher learning in the state, BN College, too, has fared poorly in student support and progression, research, innovations and extension.

BN College principal Rajkishore Prasad said that the institution at least expected ‘B’ rank, but it slipped due to reasons beyond its control. “The fact is that the student feedback is not good and there is acute shortage of teachers. Our history department has no teacher, while political science has just one. Expecting PG teaching and research with such faculty position is sheer wishful thinking. We missed ‘B’ rank with a slender margin, but we will try again, provided we get the support to get our basics right,” he added.

The rank of institutions is determined on the basis of CGPA calculation based on the scores obtained from the three sources, viz. the system generated source (SGS) of the quantitative metrics which comprise about 70% of the total, the scores from the qualitative, critical appraisal by the peer team through on-site visit and the scores obtained on the student satisfaction survey.

These are collated through an automated procedure based on benchmarks for assessment on a seven point-scale, starting with A++, A+ and A, B++, B+ and B and C. Patna University had earlier barely managed ‘B+’, but it is the highest grade for any state university in Bihar and speaks about the condition of higher education.

“The bitter truth is that the institutions alone could not be blamed for the slide. Many of the university websites are without syllabus, five-year question papers for students, activities’ calendar, though holiday calendar comes in advance. How can one expect student feedback to be good. If this is the condition of PU, one can well imagine the scenario in other institutions,” admitted a senior PU professor, adding that at least NAAC rebuff should work as a wakeup call for the state institutions as well as the government due to strict guidelines under the Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA).

Accreditation status

Patna University – B+

Patna College – C

BN College - C

Patna Law College – B

Patna Science College - B

Magadh Mahila College – B+

Vanijya Mahavidyalay - Disqualified