Higher education council discourages govt deliberations over appointing teachers

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Deliberations underway in the state higher education department on wresting from managements their right to appoint teachers in aided colleges are likely to come to a naught. The state higher education council, in its response to the buildup, has informed the government that such a design not only lacked a cogent legal backing, but also smacked of wily attempts to usurp the academic autonomy of universities.
In 2017, when the state higher education council had not yet been reconstituted by the current dispensation, a committee appointed by the state government had advised the government to consider to rescind the rights vested with the aided college managements in making appointments in their colleges. The recommendation by the committee headed by Sanskrit University former vice-chancellor and SCERT director J Prasad came as a cursory one among other important points regarding higher education, including the workload calculation of teachers.
"The present arrangement for appointment of teachers in the private aided colleges and their approval which is a part and parcel of the Direct Payment Agreement (1972) between the government and private educational agencies is legally binding on both parties to the agreement and cannot be abrogated ex-parte," higher education council stated emphatically in its report submitted to the government on Monday.
As per UGC Regulations, (2018), implemented in the state, the mandatory agency for supervising the implementation of UGC's standards and norms in recruitment of teachers is the university concerned, pointed out the council. Referring to Dr M Ananthakrishnan committee report (2011) submitted to the government by the council, it said the UGC regulations related to appointment should be implemented both in letter and spirit.
"The right of the government which meets the entire salary expenditure of the teachers to ensure accountability on the part of universities in fixation of posts and approval of teachers 'cannot be overstated'. At the same time, it is not necessary or even desirable for the government to take over the responsibility for fixation of posts and approval of teachers from the university... This does not mean that the government has no role whatsoever in regulating the appointment of teachers in aided colleges. As a matter of fact, the government can effectively control the number of posts sanctioned by universities without interfering with the day-to-day academic and administrative roles of the universities in fixation of posts and approval of appointments," the council stated.