The Bihar government has taken exception to the omission of eminent personalities such as socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan from the new post-graduation syllabus of political science at the JP University (JPU) in Chhapra. The university is named after Narayan.
JPU vice-chancellor Faruque Ali has promised to make amends from the new academic session starting in a couple of months as students’ organisations threatened an agitation over the omission.
Bihar’s top leaders, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar, have been among the followers of Narayan.
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In a tweet, Prasad hit out at the government for the omission. “I had set up JPU 30 years ago at my karmbhoomi. It was named after Jai Prakashji. Now the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) backed Bihar government and RSS mindset has removed the thoughts of great socialist leaders like JP-Lohia from the same university. This cannot be tolerated. The government must take its cognisance forthwith.”
Ali insisted the governor’s house approved the new syllabus during his predecessor’s tenure. He added it was initially kept pending due to a delay in the implementation of the choice-based credit system(CBCS). “CBCS should have been implemented long back, but it could not be possible at JPU. All universities in Bihar did it by 2018. I came here in September 2020 and wanted CBCS to be implemented straightaway for the benefit of students. I was told that the syllabus is ready and as there was no time left due to two years of backlog exams. It was implemented.”
{{/usCountry}}Ali insisted the governor’s house approved the new syllabus during his predecessor’s tenure. He added it was initially kept pending due to a delay in the implementation of the choice-based credit system(CBCS). “CBCS should have been implemented long back, but it could not be possible at JPU. All universities in Bihar did it by 2018. I came here in September 2020 and wanted CBCS to be implemented straightaway for the benefit of students. I was told that the syllabus is ready and as there was no time left due to two years of backlog exams. It was implemented.”
{{/usCountry}}Ali said when the institution is named after Narayan, there was no reason for the omission. “In fact, there can be a separate paper on JP. Once the backlog exams are over for 2018 and 2019, we will bring about the required change from the next session starting within a few months.”
Others omitted from the syllabus include Dayanand Saraswati, Raja Ram Mohan Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The additions are Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Jyotiba Phule.
Education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary expressed his displeasure over the omission and additional chief secretary (education) Sanjay Kumar spoke to Ali when the matter came to light.
Higher Education Council vice-chairman Kameshwar Jha said the university could not have taken the decision to alter the syllabus without getting it vetted. He added he has asked Ali to look into the matter.