The teacher’s body of the university has been demanding that the appointment of capable principals be initiated immediately and the fund cut be reconsidered by the UGC.
The New Leam Staff
Twenty two out of seventy even college in Delhi University are running without a Principal. It has been a long time since the university’s teachers association is demanding that the process of recruitment of principals be streamlined.
Recently the UGC has issued a warning to the colleges without a principal that their funding will be cut. The warning states that if thee colleges fail in recruiting full-time principals then their funding will be withheld.
UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain stated that “As per the latest available update, it has been noticed that many colleges have not complied with the directives of MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) or UGC to appoint regular principals. The colleges are once again requested to expedite the process of selection of a full-time regular principal in your college.”
“Further, they are hereby requested to inform the date of interview for the post of the Principal latest by August 31 failing which the UGC will be constrained to withhold the release of further grants.”
The UGC demands that the pot of the principals be immediately filled with capable individuals and failing which the grant that they provide for universities will be withheld. The recent times have seen several protests by the teachers union about the curtailment of funds to the university and the debates over the granting of an autonomous status to various colleges in Delhi University has also led to much debate among the teaching community.
The serious implications that are evident without the funding of the UGC need to be stated clearly for the sake of quality education in the nation.
Public universities are the lifeline of the nation because they give education to the masses. Exorbitant fees, recruitment of teachers only on contracts, only market-friendly courses and privatisation of public universities will deprive the masses of quality education.
While recruitment of principal may be a valid question given the administrative vantage point, it also becomes crucial to understand that these decisions don’t emerge out of nowhere. The attack on public universities in the country cannot be understood in a vacuum, it is part of the larger political agenda.
