Hastiness to open many private varsities has been counterproductive
Since the government allowed the operation of the private universities to accommodate an increasing number of students seeking to be university graduates, these tertiary level institutions have been suffering various setbacks for poor policy making.
For many private universities that are governed by trustee boards turned into mere certificates selling centres.
Little importance is given on education as universities are run without adequate numbers of competent teachers, educational infrastructures as well as permanent campuses.
For long, the government has been grappling to eradicate various problems persisting in these private universities.
The education ministry as well as the University Grants Commission at different times took various steps to bring administrative discipline as well as improving the academic atmosphere in these universities, but their outlook as higher seats of education have not improved that much barring in some few universities.
One thing must be pointed out here.
The government should not have allowed the mushroom growth of these higher seats of education without scrutinising the capability of the people who have founded these universities in the first place.
Having money to start a money-making business is one thing; quite different abilities and dedication are needed in running an educational institution.
Here the nobility of purpose is of utmost importance.
There is a serious allegation that on political consideration, permission of founding universities went to people who were not at all fit to establish and run universities.
Therefore, the government has also to share the blame for the existing confusion that now prevails in these higher seats of education. Situations have now become such that the government has felt it necessary to amend again the Private University Act that was passed in 2010.
After about more than three decades of operation of private universities, the government finds that at least a third of the trustee board members of a private university will have to be academics, and accordingly, a draft amendment to the Private University Act-2010 has been prepared.
The existing law allows that the trustee board can have nine to 21 members. Inclusion of educationists in the trustee board is aimed at creating a congenial academic atmosphere.
Moreover, a trustee will not be able to take any financial benefits for attending any meeting as well as for other university-related activities.
The draft law also stipulates that the trustees or their family members will not hold any offices of profit at a university, giving more power to the government or the UGC to appoint observers at universities for tackling any situation that can hamper academic activities.
These amendments are in the right direction.
But if from the beginning professionalism was given importance, many private universities would not have turned into a headache for the nation.
