Nagpur: Buckling under pressure, Nagpur University (NU) has repealed within 17 days of issuing its own new direction for granting affiliation to education colleges.
The move comes at a time when just 14% of Bachelor of Education (BEd) first-semester students managed to clear the winter exam, mainly because of lack of teachers and infrastructure. Just 747 of 4,500 BEd students could clear the exam.
In the new Direction 8 of 2018, NU has scaled down the minimum overall score needed for grant of affiliation from 140 to 95. Similarly, the minimum scores for key parameters like appointment of teachers and infrastructure have been lowered.
Last month, the new norms were laid down keeping NCTE’s revised guidelines and last year’s High Court order in mind. Surprisingly, the latest direction states the previous one was "not in conformity with NCTE norms and HC order”. On March 30, TOI was the first to report about the stringent norms that triggered a backlash from education barons who feared closure of their colleges.
In fact, NU mentioned the objections raised by certain colleges/institutions regarding the stringent norms in the repealed Direction 6 of 2018.
However, NU authorities conveniently ignored the concerns raised by Senate member Shilawat Meshram in his letter to the vice-chancellor soon after the local enquiry committee (LEC) inspection were called off in the wake of protests. The Senate member had reminded the VC about the NU’s affidavit in the high court and NCTE revised guidelines. He had advised the VC not to dilute the norms in the interest of students and colleges.
National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) or Quality Control of India (QCI) assessment accreditation too were made must for granting affiliation to education colleges offering education and physical education courses from the forthcoming academic year.
Now, this condition too has been left at the discretion of LEC members. The new norm states either NAAC or QCI rating. This is likely to create confusion and ultimately give leeway for showing leniency towards colleges without fulltime faculty and proper infrastructure. Litigations regarding QCI assessment have been pending in the Supreme Court and colleges can make it an excuse for not having the rating.
Soon after the NU notified the earlier direction, some colleges had begun advertising vacant posts. In one such advertisement, TOI found the college had invited applications for filling up all posts that indicated it did not have a single regular faculty member until then.
VC SP Kane said the earlier direction could have led to closure of several colleges.