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Education News

government) of India’s 28 states and eight Union territo- THEY SAID IT
ries are obliged to act only on the advice of state govern-
ments. Essentially, state governors are the eyes and ears "Education is the cornerstone of the bond
of the Central government appointed by the Centre to between India and the United States.
preserve the unity of the country. Students from both countries are learning
But while it’s the obligation of governors to act and is- and growing alongside each other,
sue orders solely on the advice of the duly elected state discovering the people that they want to
governments, in instances when they are formed by po-
litical parties opposed to government at the Centre, state become and building a better world together.
governors are often encouraged to make life difficult for Working side by side, our nations can create
their governments. In West Bengal (pop.91 million) which a safer, healthier, more prosperous future for
has been ruled by the Trinamool Congress led by its fiery everyone."
three-term chief minister Mamata Banerjee since 2011, Jill Biden, First Lady of the US, at the Skilling for
the state government is less than enamoured with the BJP Future event attended by Indian prime minister
government at the Centre. Narendra Modi in Washington (June 22)
This antagonism has been mutual and during the past
few years, Jagdeep Dhankar, former governor of West “The third decade of the last century gave
Bengal (now Vice President of India), publicly criticised new momentum to the struggle for India’s
the TMC government on several issues including mainte- independence. Now the third decade of
nance of law and order and conduct of assembly elections. the new century will give impetus to the
Under well-established convention, state governors are development journey of India. The large
also required ex-officio
to serve as Chancellors number of upcoming universities, colleges,
of government univer- IITs, IIMs and AIIMS are becoming the
sities in all states and building blocks of new India.”
Union territories. Prime minister Narendra Modi speaking at the
On June 1, the state’s centenary celebrations of Delhi University (The Hindu,
new governor C.V. June 30)
Ananda Bose, who
assumed office last No- “We’ve seen them – Snapchat, TikTok and
vember, unilaterally ap- several others – serve as places where
pointed 11 interim vice violent gatherings have been organised,
chancellors including but there’s also a form of mimicry of the
of the top-ranked Uni- violence, which for some young people leads
versity of Calcutta and Governor C.V. Ananda Bose them to lose touch with reality. You get the
Jadavpur University impression that for some of them, they are
after completion of tenures of the previous incumbents,
an initiative criticised by state education minister Bratya experiencing on the street the video games
Basu as illegal as the state government had not been con- that have intoxicated them.”
sulted. “Moreover as per University Grants Commission Emmanuel Macron, President of France, on the role
rules, ten years of academic experience at the professor played by social media in fuelling the recent riots in
level is mandatory and most of the appointees don’t have France (Al Jazeera, June 30)
this qualification,” Basu told the media.
However, with ten of the 11 appointees having accepted “Byju's and its investors assumed and
office, on June 12, the higher education department sent pushed huge growth rates... Educational
a notice asking the appointees “not to draw pay and al- brands take a long time to build. Some of the
lowances applicable to the vice-chancellor of a state-aided world’s top institutions have been around
university and that any non-compliance will be viewed se- for centuries. It takes at least a few decades,
riously”. In Bengal, the salary of a senior professor of a not a few quarters. Neither can you see
public university is Rs.2.10 lakh per month and of a vice education as a pre “maximise financial-
chancellor Rs.2.40 lakh. returns’ product.”
This confrontation between Raj Bhavan (governor’s of-
ficial residence) and the TMC has been building up for a Chetan Bhagat, well-known author, on the steady
downfall of India's most valued edtech company
while. In April, Bose had issued a circular asking all VCs Byju’s (Times of India, July 3)
to send weekly reports to Raj Bhavan. At that time, the

20 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023