Education officials to inspect bihar varsities, colleges

PATNA: In a first-of-its kind initiative, the state education department is going to start inspection of universities and colleges in the state with a view to make an on-the-spot assessment of their administrative, academic and financial health.
Under the scheme finalised by the department, all the higher officials led by the education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary would visit an institution and assess its performance on various counts in the presence of university and college authorities. According to a tentative schedule, the inspection by the education department’s team would commence on Thursday with the Patliputra University.
Giving details of this unique initiative the education minister told this newspaper that first of all, the officials would make university-wise inspections. This will be followed by the inspection of colleges to be selected randomly.
“During the team’s visit, the head of the institution (vice-chancellor in case of a university or principal in case of a college or head of a postgraduate department), financial advisor and finance officer (bursar in case of a college), inspector of colleges and controllers of examinations will be called for giving out the details of the institution concerned,” he said.
Choudhary further pointed out the team would try to assess as to why the universities and colleges have failed to make the desired progress despite an expenditure of Rs 5,500 crore on the salaries and pension of university staff. “The team will also try to find out as to why classes are not being held regularly and why teachers and students are not coming to classes, why sessions are delayed by years and why the universities fail to utilise the grants properly and submit utilisation certificates timely,” the minister said.
The team would take a detailed note of the classes engaged and courses covered by the subject teachers and also the efforts of the university or college administration to bring all the enrolled students to their respective classes. It would also examine the financial discipline maintained by the universities and colleges. The team would fix responsibility of each individual officer, teacher and subordinate staff and the ones who are found shirking from their responsibilities would be brought to book. The education department may forward their names to the chancellor for suitable action against them, he said.
It may be mentioned here that only recently a Hindi teacher of Muzaffarpur-based Nitishwar College under the B R A Bihar University had hogged the limelight by offering to return his 33 months’ salary just because he could not engage even a single class for want of students during the period. Though he withdrew his application later, maybe on the pressure of the authorities, he had inadvertently raised a very serious question on the functioning of colleges and universities, quipped some senior academics.