Why scrap UGC?

The government’s proposal to replace the UGC Act with the Higher Education Commission of India is a very serious matter. The draft Bill is opaque about the reasons why the government has brought about these changes or why some reforms are not possible within the framework of the existing UGC. Some of the important problems in higher education institutions concern large-scale vacancies, over dependence on the market leading to a commercialisation and privatisation of education, shrinking space for independent opinion, critical thinking and innovative ideas and dwindling autonomy of institutions. It is hard to understand how the government is going to address these problems through the HECI. The Bill emphatically says that the targets, under HECI, would be to end licence raj in higher education and enable maximum autonomy in higher education. It would also plan policies regarding higher education, and maintain and monitor all other academic activities. The right to take academic decisions without having any power to allocate funds and a dependence on the government for funding to implement decisions would only encourage unexpected interventions by the government. Autonomy will also be lost. In the end, institutions will be manipulated by the demand of the market, compelled to enhance student fees and have to toe the line directed by the government.

Ranjit Choudhury,

Goalpara, Assam