Page 26 - EducationWorld September 2023

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ruled by the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) THEY SAID IT
for 34 uninterrupted years (1977-2011).
Currently, monthly tuition fees are Rs.75 for arts “NEET-based selection process favours ur-
stream students, Rs.150 for science, and Rs.200 for ban students and those who can afford costly
engineering. Moreover, the hostel fee has remained coaching classes and hence is inherently
frozen at Rs.25 per month since 1970. With teachers and against the poor and underprivileged.”
student unions, continuing to be affiliated with the CPM, M.K. Stalin, chief minister, Tamil Nadu, on why the
prospects of their agreeing to fee hikes to shore up JU’s state government is opposed to the NEET medical
finances are dim. exam (The Hindu, August 14)
Within a week of Kundu’s alleged suicide on the JU
campus, without consulting the state government, Gover- “NEP speaks about learning in the mother
nor Ananda Bose appointed Buddhadeb Sau, a profes-
sor of mathematics at JU, as its interim vice chancellor tongue, experiential learning, flexibility in
on August 19. Sau’s appointment despite his lack of ten education and making global citizens. Doesn’t
years teaching experience which is mandatory for the post the state government want this for its stu-
of VC, his association with unions linked with RSS-BJP, dents? This decision is anti-Kannada and
his endorsement of economic status rather than caste as anti-Karnataka… Let’s put students first and
the criterion for reservations which aligns with the RSS’s stop the petty politics.”
agenda, have led to Dharmendra Pradhan, Union education minister, on
widespread public out- the Karnataka Congress government scrapping NEP
rage and scepticism. 2020 implementation in the state (August 23)
ccording to Nilas-
Ais Basu, secretary “For people wanting to make a career in space
of the CPM-affiliated or aerospace, the United States or Europe
All India Students’ As- was the place to go to. But that is chang-
sociation (AISA), the ing. It began with Chandrayaan-1 itself, and
governor has “capital-
ised” on turmoil in the has been gaining momentum in the last few
university to “indirectly years. The moon landing and Aditya mission
pave the way for the Buddhadeb Sau will accelerate this process. Youngsters in the
RSS’ involvement” aerospace industry now see India as a place
through Sau’s appoint- where they can do all kinds of high-end work
ment as vice chancellor of JU. “This manoeuvring is part and thrive.”
of a larger trend wherein individuals are strategically Mylswamy Annadurai, project director of
placed at the helm of the nation’s educational institutions Chandrayaan-1 on the successful launch of
to undermine their integrity,” wrote Basu in the popular Chandrayaan 3 (Indian Express, September 2)
anti-establishment online magazine The Wire (August
21). “Fighting spirit is extremely important in a
With charges and counter-charges flying thick and a game or any sport. If at any point I realise that
political slugfest taking centrestage following Swapnadip’s I am on the backfoot, I try to fight back be-
tragic death, teaching-learning is on the back burner in cause I think that is the only way to navigate
this showpiece state-funded university with female stu-
dents being subjected to slut shaming on social media. the situation.”
Campus chaos is bad news for Bengal where the GER R. Praggnanandhaa, chess champion and runner-up at
(gross enrolment ratio) in higher education has experi- the recently concluded World Chess Cup (Times of
enced a steep fall. According to the All India Survey on India, September 5)
Higher Education Report 2018, the state’s GER is 19.3
percent against the national average of 27.1 percent. With “The Delhi Declaration is undoubtedly a dip-
a large number of newly-emergent private universities lomatic triumph for India. It’s a good achieve-
capturing the limelight, and UGC having recently given ment because right until the G20 summit was
the green light to foreign universities to establish cam- being convened, the widespread expectation
puses in India, government universities — especially state was there would be no agreement...”
universities — are fast losing reputation. Jadavpur U is Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, on the Delhi
not an exception. Declaration released at the recently concluded G20
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) Conference in New Delhi (ANI, September 11)

26 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2023