Page 30 - EW August 2023

Education News

KARNATAKA THEY SAID IT
Rank pulling circular “The world is looking at India as a nursery

of new possibilities. Many countries are
arnataka’s newly elected congress government is approaching us to open IIT campuses there.
cracking the whip on the state’s 24 private uni- Two IIT campuses — one in Tanzania and one
Kversities, many of them established during the in Abu Dhabi — are already about to start
rule (2019-2023) of its predecessor BJP government.
On July 17, the Under Secretary, Higher Education operations.... Various global universities are
Department, shot off letters to registrars of private uni- also reaching out to us, expressing their
versities lambasting them for not inviting government interest in setting up campuses in India.”
representatives to meetings of their boards of governors Prime minister Narendra Modi at the Akhil Bhartiya
(BoGs). Under special legislation of the state’s legisla- Shiksha Samagam in Delhi (July 29)
tive assembly, by which they have been established,
all private universities are obliged to invite principal- “The National Education Policy is making
secretary, higher ed department, or secretary of the its way to every part of the country. The
state government to BoG meetings. Among the varsities NEP aims to make India the torchbearer of
served notice are top-ranked institutions such as St. providing and receiving quality education in
Joseph’s, CMR, Jain, Reva, Azim Premji and Presidency the world in the 21st century.”
universities.
“The fact that Board of Governors is the statutory Dharmendra Pradhan, Union education minister, on the
authority of private universities established in the third anniversary of NEP 2020 (Hindustan Times, July
31)
State by the Acts enacted by the State Legislature and
the Principal Secretary/Secretary to the Government,
Higher Education Department, Government of Karna- “The fall seems the steepest for Byju’s. It lost
taka are ex-officio members of the Board of Governors its ‘decacorn’ status after Prosus, one of its
as provided in relevant sections of every such Act… biggest investors, slashed the edtech firm’s
The Government has no tolerance towards discourtesy valuation by three-fourths — from $22 billion
shown by not inviting the Principal Secretary/Secretary to $5.1 billion – in less than one year.”
to the Government, Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief, on the great plunge in
Higher Education De- valuations of unicorns especially Byju's (India Today,
partment to meetings July 31)
of Board of Governors
and such Private Uni- “We are dealing with something on
versities are hereby unprecedented magnitude of violence
admonished for against women in communal and sectarian
violation of statutory violence. It cannot be gainsaid that crimes
provisions of the Acts are happening against women and in Bengal
establishing them,”
says a circular signed also. But here the case is different. Tell me
by Nandakumar B, what is the suggestion from you in Manipur.
under-secretary to the B. Thimme Gowda We cannot justify what happened in Manipur
government, higher by saying that this happened elsewhere.”
education department. Moreover, private universities D.Y. Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India, on violence in
have been asked to “scrupulously adhere to the hard Manipur (Times of India, August 1)
and fast provisions of the Acts establishing them”, and
warned of “zero tolerance” for non-compliance. “…But capital is mobile and inherently risk-
BoGs are the highest decision-making authority averse and could swiftly move elsewhere
conferred with the powers to decide the university’s if it perceives a heightened law-and-order
financial, admissions, fees policies. threat. This is the practical lesson that
During the past decade, private universities in Karna-
taka have multiplied at fast pace. During the first term politicians of all ideological hues need to
in office of the BJP government (2008-2013), three absorb rapidly.”
private universities were approved. Subsequently when Editorial on recent communal violence in Gurguram
BJP strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa was chief minister (Business Standard, August 4)

30 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2023