[Reader-list] Attack on Education System in WB

[A. Mani]

(From People's Democracy)

“Ambience of  Education is Disturbed”

>From Our Special

Correspondent in Kolkata





THE attack on the education system in West Bengal under the new regime
has begun to take its toll. Vice chancellors of Burdwan and Vidyasagar
universities have resigned from their posts due to deteriorating
situation in their institutions.  Burdwan VC, Subrata Pal, sent his
resignation to the university chancellor, governor, M K Narayanan on
September 20. Days before him, Vidyasagar University VC, Nanda Dulal
Paria, sent his resignation to the chancellor.



After the TMC-Congress combine came to power in West Bengal, the
government seemed hell bent upon to derail the democratic education
governance evolved in the state in the last three decades. A so-called
‘advisory committee’, consisting of professed pro-TMC people, was
formed and their whips started to be imposed on the elected and
legally formed governing councils and boards of higher education. The
governor issued a notification banning all recruitments, promotions
and even taking any important decisions by senates, syndicates,
executive councils and vice chancellors. In many universities, even
routine work was jeopardised.



Apart from that, direct interventions by TMC leaders and ministers in
running the institutions grew to unsustainable proportions.



Such a trouble broke out in Burdwan University over science and
technology minister Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay's advisory to the VC to
act in consultation with some of his trusted lieutenants in the
university, who were TMC leaders.



In his letter to the chancellor, VC of Burdwan expressed his dismay
over the deteriorating academic atmosphere in the university. "I find
with utter dismay that over the last several months, the general
environment has become more and more inhospitable for an academic
person to discharge the duty of a vice-chancellor," he said in his
resignation letter.



Pal had expected things to shape up after the new coalition took over.
"But it didn't. Instead it got worse with a number of committees
formed without addressing the problems," the VC said. He also pointed
at non-cooperation from certain quarters in the university as also
from the higher education minister Bratya Basu. In fact, incidents of
TMC ruffians entering the university and attacking students, officers,
abusing teachers have become regular.



In Rabindrabharati University, situated in Tagore’s ancestral home,
TMC activists have already ransacked offices, manhandled teachers ,
beaten up SFI students. They have demanded that their list should be
followed for entrance. RBU teachers have unitedly protested against
anarchy.



In Vidyasagar university , TMC leaders are forcing their fatwas to be
followed. "I do not wish to continue as vice chancellor. I sent my
papers in the first week of August to the chancellor. There has been
no communication thereafter from the governor's house. I will no
longer be able to continue in office due to personal reasons," said VC
 Nanda Dulal  Paria.



In an unprecedented move, the government has decided to remove the
existing members of the executive council of the Presidency
university. The members of the Council are academicians with
impeccable record of academic excellence like Professors Amiya Bagchi
(Director, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata), Mushirul Hassan
(Director, National Archives of India), Bikash Sinha (Ex-Director,
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics), Shankar Pal (Ex-Director, Indian
Statistical Institute), Suranjan Das (Vice-Chancellor, University of
Calcutta), P N Ghosh (Vice-Chancellor, Jadavpur University) and some
others. The members of this committee were not even informed of the
decision by the government. They came to know of it through the media.

The executive council was nominated by the erstwhile Left Front
government to carry forward the academic activities of Presidency,
which was given university status by the government recently. After
coming to power, Mamata Banerjee constituted another committee called
the Mentor group (which is not a statutory body), to advise the
university, headed by Professor  Sugata Bose and with Professor
Amartya Sen as the advisor. Professor Amartya Sen had opined that the
Mentor group should act in collaboration with the executive council.
However, the government decided to dissolve the existing executive
council and convert the Mentor group into the executive council to
deal with the differences that arose.



Several questions have been raised about the decision. Firstly, the
government has insulted senior academicians of the state and the
country by removing them from the Council without consulting them at
any level. Secondly, it is also being said that the academicians have
been removed from the council, since they were appointed by the Left
Front government. This is nothing but TMC’s  vendetta politics. The
members of the council have the highest level of academic excellence.
They were in the council in their own right and not because of any
political affiliation. Thirdly, the members of the Mentor group are
mainly NRIs or live outside the state. To run a university, it is
imperative that the vice chancellor and the council interact
frequently. If the members of the Mentor group (who subsequently will
be the council) are not living in the state, it will be difficult to
run the university and will adversely affect teaching and research in
the university.



What is at stake here is the prestige and academic future of
Presidency university. The government in its narrow partisanship and
short-sightedness is gambling with the future of the university and
insulting senior intellectuals. This only shows the political intent
of the government, which is averse to evolving a consensus on such
important matters.



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A. Mani



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