The State government ticked almost all the right boxes when it announced a slew of welfare schemes and reforms at the beginning of the last academic year. But the lag between policy announcement and implementation is exposed as many of the schemes have managed to make only tardy progress even as the academic year comes to a close.
Chennai:
However, as the curtains come down on the academic year, most of the schemes are either still at the inception phase or moving at a snail’s pace, mainly for want of funds or other issues. Some of the attractive announcements such as setting up incubation centres in universities and the introduction of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in select varsities too did not take off as expected. To add to this, there was also delay in filling of more than 2,000 vacant assistant professor posts in government arts, science and polytechnic colleges. Accordingly, in certain colleges, the posts, which were lying vacant for two years or more, continued to remain unoccupied in this academic year too.
Renovation, repair projects hit
According to the Higher Education Department officials, the tender process for the construction of administrative and academic blocks in the government polytechnic colleges in various districts, estimated at a cost of Rs 37 crore, is running behind schedule. A senior official, who is looking after the construction works of the institutions under the Higher Education Department, admits that though the State government is committed to commencing the works in time, at times, the delay in the release of funds is hampering the works. “Timely release of funds would help the authorities to complete the projects as per the schedule,” he said adding that the renovation and repair works in colleges and institutions, which were announced at the beginning of the last academic year, have also made only tardy progress due to similar reasons.
According to Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations (TANFUFA), the State government should ensure transparency in the administration of the institutions by bringing out separate white papers on their financial position every year, stating the status of government funding and university expenditures. “The procedures to be followed while making purchases and while floating tender in construction of buildings must be strictly adhered to and violation and flaunting of the guidelines must be dealt with stringent measures by the authorities concerned,” said TANFUFA president I Arul Aram.
ERP project yet to take off
Most of the reform initiatives announced in May 2019 were supposed to be implemented this academic year itself. One such was the implementation of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) — aimed at integrating the data sources seamlessly and providing unified access for timely information and decision making — at a cost of Rs 1.15 crore. The officials rue that no real progress has taken place and that the project is still in limbo.
Not different is the fate of offering online courses for students seeking admissions through the distance education programme. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had permitted the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) to start eight online courses during phase one, for which the government had announced an initial allocation of Rs 50 lakh. Similarly, the establishment of learner support centres and examination centres at 91 government arts and science colleges also remains a dream unfulfilled.
Teacher posts lie vacant
Though the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) had issued a notification in August 2018 to fill a total of 2,340 vacant assistant professors’ posts, still the recruitment process is yet to kick start in its true spirit. Also, many government arts and science colleges do not have a full-time principal, according to the data provided by the Higher Education Department.
A senior official from Directorate of Collegiate Education stated that a series of technical snags forced the TRB officials to suspend not only recruitment of assistant professors but also other appointments. He said authorities noticed errors in the software that handles the online registration process. “It will take at least a couple of weeks to rectify the error,” he said.
“The present proposal of the Department of Higher Education for a common recruitment board for universities and faculty selection is not acceptable and it may still worsen the selection on various grounds,” said Dr R Dhamotharan, convenor, Joint Action Council of College Teachers, Tamil Nadu. He also demanded that the irregularities in the administration of the government and government-aided colleges by the Department of Higher Education and the Directorate of Collegiate Education should be strictly reviewed and any irregularities by the administrators brought to limelight and action taken.
IOE tag for AU delayed
The Institute of Eminence (IOE) tag for Anna University is also getting delayed due to tug of war between the Higher Education Department and Anna University over various issues. However, sources from Anna University said that the government move to get IOE status for the institution is moving at a snail’s pace.
A senior official from Anna University said that despite several pleas from institution’s Vice-Chancellor MK Surappa to the Higher Education Department, the government did not heed to his request. “Even our Vice-Chancellor visited the Secretariat several times but there was no proper response from the government,” said the official adding that the main issue is that of the existence of 69 per cent reservation in the university.
Stating that once the IOE status is granted, the reservation policy of the university will have to be changed, the university official said the State government should hasten up things and take up the matter with the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for granting of IOE status as early as possible since the new academic year is just two to three months away.
Funds for higher education
The 2019-20 financial year saw the State government allocating a total of Rs 4,584.21 crore for higher education sectors, of which, the lion’s share of Rs 2,651.36 crore went to the Directorate of Collegiate Education, followed by the Technical Education department at Rs 1,177.53 crore. For the universities, the State Budget had allocated Rs 633.79 crore, mainly for research and other development activities, while Rs 94 crore was allocated to the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education. Only Rs 15 lakh was allocated to the Tamil Nadu State Council for Technical Education, which is the head of all technical courses, including engineering programmes for the students.
When contacted, Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan claimed that all the new announcements that were made are being implemented in a phased manner as per the schedule and that only the Central scheme under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is getting slightly delayed due to non-release of funds. “All the State projects are on schedule,” he added. He also said that the Tamil Nadu government has taken measures to prevail upon the Centre for granting of IOE status to Anna University.
The dawning of 2019 academic year saw the Tamil Nadu government announcing more than 10 new welfare schemes in the higher education sector aimed at improving the standards of the universities as well as engineering and polytechnic institutes in the State. The new initiatives were hailed by the academicians, educationists and parents and the Higher Education Department came in for wholesome praise. The government’s move to introduce several new courses in Science and Arts Colleges was also welcomed by the stakeholders, who said these measurers come in the backdrop of a growing demand for new courses that would meet the changed present-day requirements of the industries that look for such young graduates in its workforce.
However, as the curtains come down on the academic year, most of the schemes are either still at the inception phase or moving at a snail’s pace, mainly for want of funds or other issues. Some of the attractive announcements such as setting up incubation centres in universities and the introduction of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in select varsities too did not take off as expected. To add to this, there was also delay in filling of more than 2,000 vacant assistant professor posts in government arts, science and polytechnic colleges. Accordingly, in certain colleges, the posts, which were lying vacant for two years or more, continued to remain unoccupied in this academic year too.
Renovation, repair projects hit
According to the Higher Education Department officials, the tender process for the construction of administrative and academic blocks in the government polytechnic colleges in various districts, estimated at a cost of Rs 37 crore, is running behind schedule. A senior official, who is looking after the construction works of the institutions under the Higher Education Department, admits that though the State government is committed to commencing the works in time, at times, the delay in the release of funds is hampering the works. “Timely release of funds would help the authorities to complete the projects as per the schedule,” he said adding that the renovation and repair works in colleges and institutions, which were announced at the beginning of the last academic year, have also made only tardy progress due to similar reasons.
According to Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations (TANFUFA), the State government should ensure transparency in the administration of the institutions by bringing out separate white papers on their financial position every year, stating the status of government funding and university expenditures. “The procedures to be followed while making purchases and while floating tender in construction of buildings must be strictly adhered to and violation and flaunting of the guidelines must be dealt with stringent measures by the authorities concerned,” said TANFUFA president I Arul Aram.
ERP project yet to take off
Most of the reform initiatives announced in May 2019 were supposed to be implemented this academic year itself. One such was the implementation of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) — aimed at integrating the data sources seamlessly and providing unified access for timely information and decision making — at a cost of Rs 1.15 crore. The officials rue that no real progress has taken place and that the project is still in limbo.
Not different is the fate of offering online courses for students seeking admissions through the distance education programme. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had permitted the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) to start eight online courses during phase one, for which the government had announced an initial allocation of Rs 50 lakh. Similarly, the establishment of learner support centres and examination centres at 91 government arts and science colleges also remains a dream unfulfilled.
Teacher posts lie vacant
Though the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) had issued a notification in August 2018 to fill a total of 2,340 vacant assistant professors’ posts, still the recruitment process is yet to kick start in its true spirit. Also, many government arts and science colleges do not have a full-time principal, according to the data provided by the Higher Education Department.
A senior official from Directorate of Collegiate Education stated that a series of technical snags forced the TRB officials to suspend not only recruitment of assistant professors but also other appointments. He said authorities noticed errors in the software that handles the online registration process. “It will take at least a couple of weeks to rectify the error,” he said.
“The present proposal of the Department of Higher Education for a common recruitment board for universities and faculty selection is not acceptable and it may still worsen the selection on various grounds,” said Dr R Dhamotharan, convenor, Joint Action Council of College Teachers, Tamil Nadu. He also demanded that the irregularities in the administration of the government and government-aided colleges by the Department of Higher Education and the Directorate of Collegiate Education should be strictly reviewed and any irregularities by the administrators brought to limelight and action taken.
IOE tag for AU delayed
The Institute of Eminence (IOE) tag for Anna University is also getting delayed due to tug of war between the Higher Education Department and Anna University over various issues. However, sources from Anna University said that the government move to get IOE status for the institution is moving at a snail’s pace.
A senior official from Anna University said that despite several pleas from institution’s Vice-Chancellor MK Surappa to the Higher Education Department, the government did not heed to his request. “Even our Vice-Chancellor visited the Secretariat several times but there was no proper response from the government,” said the official adding that the main issue is that of the existence of 69 per cent reservation in the university.
Stating that once the IOE status is granted, the reservation policy of the university will have to be changed, the university official said the State government should hasten up things and take up the matter with the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for granting of IOE status as early as possible since the new academic year is just two to three months away.
Funds for higher education
The 2019-20 financial year saw the State government allocating a total of Rs 4,584.21 crore for higher education sectors, of which, the lion’s share of Rs 2,651.36 crore went to the Directorate of Collegiate Education, followed by the Technical Education department at Rs 1,177.53 crore. For the universities, the State Budget had allocated Rs 633.79 crore, mainly for research and other development activities, while Rs 94 crore was allocated to the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education. Only Rs 15 lakh was allocated to the Tamil Nadu State Council for Technical Education, which is the head of all technical courses, including engineering programmes for the students.
When contacted, Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan claimed that all the new announcements that were made are being implemented in a phased manner as per the schedule and that only the Central scheme under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is getting slightly delayed due to non-release of funds. “All the State projects are on schedule,” he added. He also said that the Tamil Nadu government has taken measures to prevail upon the Centre for granting of IOE status to Anna University.