Prof. Sham Lal Gupta
Whole of the world is in race for bringing an increasing number of higher education institutions in the list of top institutions imparting world class education. Various models and innovative techniques are being followed to introduce best/healthy practices in the system of higher education. When seats of learning like Nalanda could become leader in education why can’t some of the universities imbibe that spirit and create institutions with world class infrastructure, faculty, laboratories, libraries etc. There is much talk on transforming Indian society and its economy. It is widely contested that due to the advantage of demographic dividend India is going to emerge as a global leader. There is no magic in the demographic profile of having large number of population in India in the working age group. In order to get the benefit of this potential age-group of population the society has to create a congenial atmosphere wherein apart from many other initiatives, our educational institutions have to impart world class education. World class infrastructure is not necessarily costly infrastructure, of course, there is a bare minimum of basic infrastructure (adequate infrastructure). A dedicated infrastructure is the prime requisite of imparting quality education.
In the state of J&K there are at present 95 Govt. Degree colleges out of which 46 are in Kashmir division, 04 in Leh/Kargil and 45 in Jammu division out of 95 Govt. Degree Colleges, 61 are functioning from their own permanent structures and 34 are functioning in make – shift arrangements. The Govt. of J&K state is committed to construct permanent structures so that colleges can function in proper manner. Proper infrastructure in the shape of labs, libraries, well-equipped class rooms, sports and games cannot be created in make-shift arrangement. By next year i.e., 2016, all the Govt. Degree Colleges will be eligible for NAAC Accreditation and it is very difficult to create the bare minimum of basic infrastructure to get eligible for NAAC Accreditation. In the very near future the funding of the Colleges under RUSA will be based on NAAC grading Ranking. Therefore, the immediate priority of the new govt. is to ensure that all the present colleges are in their own permanent buildings well equipped with basic, bare minimum, infrastructure alongwith the provision for sports and games.
Qualified faculty is one more challenge. In most of the colleges, particularly, mufassil colleges established in the rural or sub-urban areas, more than 50% of the faculty is ineligible and working on a paltry amount of salary with no accountability. These are the disgruntled lot. For the same work the permanent faculty is getting five times more salary than that of the academic arrangement teachers who are always agitating. The department of higher education has to come out with a policy for the academic arrangement teachers. In some of the states there is a policy of recruiting these teachers through PSC or any other agency for a period of five years and after putting in the required number of years their performance is evaluated on yearly basis in order to confirm them on permanent basis through a well laid down process of selection by the state PSC. The previous govt. has already refered more than 1100 posts of Assistant Professors to the state PSC. The new govt. can year up the process to see that the PSC conducts interviews on a fast track basis so that adhocism in the colleges can be reduced. This will help to improve the teaching-learning process in the colleges.
In the year 2004-2005 during the previous tenure of Mufti Sahib’s govt. an important and innovative initiative was taken with the introduction of skill Development/ Add on courses alongwith the conventional degree courses. The spirit of this initiative was embibed by the previous govt. but in a different mode and now the PM of India Sh. Narendra Modi has laid a great stress on Skill development and Innovation. The Skill Development/ Add on courses designed by the UGC were launched in approximately 16 Govt. Degree Colleges of the state with a lot of fan fare but unfortunately slowly and gradually all these courses have perished and closed. UGC/MHRD and NAAC have been seriously concerned with the continuation of existing Skill Development/ Add on courses and introducing more number of such certificate and Diploma courses on need basis. The present govt. can take the credit of reviving such short-run courses to make the students of J&K employable and global leaders.
Transparent transfer policy is of utmost importance in order to re-establish the faith of the faculty in the system. Most of the energy of the teachers goes waste in manipulating their transfers. There was a lot of scare and uncertainty among college teachers regarding frequent transfers and postings. Instead of devoting in teaching-learning process and research activities the teachers are always seen stressed on account of their frequent transfers. Transfers and postings should be based on some norms and need- based. The right person has to be at the right place. The sub-urban and rural colleges need to provided with atleast 60% permanent faculty so that the students of these are not left to the vagaries of adhocism. This is one of the challenges for the new govt. The department of higher education has to come out with a proper transfer policy in order to re-establish faith and trust of the teaching faculty in the system. In order to make the faculty to work efficiently and devote towards teaching-learning and research, the teachers need to be assured of a stress-free environment. There are well qualified and dedicated team of teachers in the colleges who need a little bit of appreciation and encouragement.
Students are the most important stake holders who are to be always kept in mind while framing policies regarding higher education. We need highly motivated students who are prepared to cooperate in the teaching-learning process and become a part of the whole system. The focus has to be on students-centric activities whether with in the classrooms, labs or playgrounds. Every college must come out with a detailed annual calendar with detailed programme of various curricular as well as extra-curricular activities. The academic calendar of each college provides a framework and a roadmap for the future development of the institution. In fact, academic calendar should form a part of the perspective institutional plan. The academic administrators should make both the perspective institutional plan as well as annual academic plan public to the teaching as well as non-teaching staff and the students. The department of higher education need to have its own perspective plan which should be framed in consultation with the academic administrators of the colleges as well as the administrative authorities of the department. The students aspirations should be kept in mind while framing policies for the future planning and growth of the institutions of higher learning in J&K state.
It is pertinent to place on record that a major Chunk of higher education (particularly the colleges) are run by the government sector reason being the majority of the students are from marginalized sections of the society belonging to the hilly areas who are socially as well as economically backward. The government has the distinction of providing higher education at a subsidized rate in the state. These students cannot be left to the mercy of the private higher education institutions who charge comparatively a higher tuition fee. The GER has also marginally gone up due to the opening up of the college in the backward, hilly and inaccessible areas of the state. Now, the challenge for the new government is to equip these colleges through proper consolidation. The phase of expansion by and large is over and that of consolidation has to be the priority of the new government.
(To be continued)
(The author is former Director Colleges J&K)
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