Developments at Telangana University in Nizamabad, where the Vice-Chancellor is at loggerheads with the government over alleged embezzlement of funds and the registrar’s choice for ‘illegal’ recruitments, have tarnished the budding university’s image. Photo: Facebook/Telangana.University.Nizamabad
Universities are considered knowledge powerhouses built on intellectual debates and fair reflection of ideologies across society. Those leading them have, ideally, aristocratic personalities and a respect that few others in society have, but the recent developments in Telangana universities are by no means a reflection of that.
The developments at Telangana University in Nizamabad, where the Vice-Chancellor is at loggerheads with the government over alleged embezzlement of funds and the registrar’s choice for ‘illegal’ recruitments, has tarnished the budding university’s image. The Executive Council (EC) meeting rejected the choice of V-C citing lack of approval and appointed another senior professor.
After this Collegiate Education Commissioner Naveen Mittal and Vice Chancellor Prof. A full fledged battle took place in the public domain between D. Ravinder Gupta and the issue eventually reached the High Court.
Earlier Prof. Gupta created a controversy by dancing with girl students in the women’s hostel and showered currency notes on them. He is also accused of recruiting part-time employees without any rules and approval of the Election Commission.
Universities in Telangana are marred by controversies like never before as most of the universities have similar stories of clashes between teachers and students. Political pressure and unilateral decisions of the Vice Chancellors are said to be the root of these problems.
Vice Chancellor of Osmania University Prof. Ravinder Yadav remained in headlines for his confrontational attitude regarding some decisions. He recently hit headlines for increasing the fee for PhD students from ₹2,500 to ₹25,000 in one go. Last year, he was in news for denying permission to former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was invited to deliver a speech on the campus.
Another top university, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH) is also facing problems over alleged unauthorized recruitment of outsourcing staff. As Vice-Chancellor, Professor K. Narasimha Reddy’s appointment was shocking to many as he comes from a non-engineering background and heads a purely technical university. Many opposed his appointment as he was over 70 years of age and had faced allegations regarding appointments in his earlier tenure as Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Nalgonda.
The Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), Basara, which was created to admit rural talent to technical courses at par with IIITs, also faced a major crisis recently, with students missing laptops, better food and They were agitating for more than a month for the demand of housing. The timely intervention of IT Minister KT Rama Rao saved it from falling into a bigger crisis.
The situation is not very good in other universities too, with rifts visible from time to time between the administration and the faculty. Allegations of nepotism and misappropriation of funds are common, but there has been little intervention from the government.
Academics argue that the toxic atmosphere on campuses is mainly due to the government diluting the bastions of knowledge, from inept governance of institutions, appointment of vice-chancellors to meager financial support.
For the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, higher education was rarely a top priority and universities were rarely acknowledged for their role in spearheading the Telangana movement. A popular belief is that this is a result of some student groups protesting during the initial years of the government under Chief Minister K.K. Chandrasekhar Rao was continuously abused for the delay in job notification.
Recruitment of teachers is also hanging in the balance as Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is refusing to approve the file for the new method of recruitment. The government has proposed a common recruitment test for all universities followed by an interview to replace the earlier method of direct interview. This is to avoid corrupt practices and prevent legal problems.
A fresh and professional approach to the changing times to make universities more relevant will probably set things right. But it needs some conviction and dynamism from the government.