Academics rue education minister's remarks

Patna: Taking strong exception to the alleged uncharitable remarks against university teachers made by education minister Ashok Chaudhary and education department principal secretary D S Gangwar in the recent state higher education council meeting, Patna University (PU) academics have demanded closure of all the 'unproductive' universities in the state.
They observed that if the teachers were responsible for all the ills plaguing the university system, they should be sacked forthwith.And, if the state government was responsible for the present sorry state of affairs, the chief minister must resign immediately, they told TOI.
Reacting sharply over the minister's remark that teachers do not teach and the universities have become degree-selling centres, Patna University social science faculty former dean Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said instead of accusing the teachers, the minister should have tried to understand the basic problems faced by the colleges and universities of the state.
Who appoints the vice-chancellors and who appoints the teachers? If the VCs do not perform as per the government expectations, why are they being allowed to continue? Thousands of teachers posts have been lying vacant for the last two decades and no sincere efforts have been made by the government to fill them up. But, despite acute shortage of faculty, the teachers are working overtime to maintain the academic calendar, he said.
Chaudhary alleged that the state government was striving hard to liquidate the traditional university system in the state and compel the poor students to pursue higher education through distance education. "The government has already asked the Nalanda Open University to open study centres at block level so that the students need not join the traditional universities for pursuing regular courses," he said.
Patna University Teachers' Association (PUTA) general secretary Anil Kumar also criticized the minister and the bureaucrat's remarks against teachers and pointed out that how come more than 60% of the successful candidates in the UPSC examinations are from Bihar alone, if the university teachers do not teach. What did the Nitish government do to streamline the university system in a span of more than a decade of his rule. He demanded an unconditional apology from the minister for making such unsavoury remarks against the teaching community, failing which the teachers would be compelled to resort to direct action.