CAG pulls up NAAC for discrepancies in processes

MUMBAI: The office of the Comptroller and Auditor Ceneral (CAG) has pulled up the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for glaring "discrepancies" in its assessment processes. The country's quality assessment body awarded "arbitrary grade points" to several higher education institutes (HEI) across the nation, the CAG has said in a note sent to NAAC with queries, asking it to respond.
The CAG went through confidential peer-team assessment reports of NAAC and in its note, pointed to discrepancies in several cases, with observations not matching with the scores given.
'Why award points for absent indicators?'
Pulling up NAAC for 'discrepancies' in its assessment processes for accreditation of higher education institutes across the nation, the CAG has cited several examples, like when the peer team visited a college in Bellampally, Andhra Pradesh, for inspection, it was found that unwanted waste was being burnt in the open, which caused air pollution. For this act, the college was awarded the highest score of four marks. In another instance, Bhavana Trust College of Commerce, Deonar was lauded for being on "the path to becoming plastic- free" but merely given one mark, zero being the lowest.
Another college, which did not prepare or adhere to the academic time-table, was given a score of four, as was one more which did not celebrate national days or sensitise students towards their constitutional obligations. "There are discrepancies in 29% of test-checked cases, i.e., 41 out of the total 133 HEIs (higher educational institutes)," noted the CAG.
The auditor's note sent to the NAAC director asked why high-grade points were given for indicators like green energy or rainwater harvesting despite the fact that such facilities were not installed at institutes. In some cases, high points were given for aspects about which colleges were silent in their report submissions. Random cross-verification of reports of certain institutions by the auditors also showed that grades awarded by peer team members were not in line with the submission made by colleges, the note said.
On Tuesday, NAAC issued a note stating that its assessment was "done transparently and professionally" and that its processes were "robust, transparent, ICT-driven and automated."