EDUCATION

Do university teachers need police verification?
Gaurav Choudhury

THE sensational shootout in Parliament and the subsequent alleged involvement of a lecturer of Zakir Hussain College (Evening) in the dastardly act has thrown open a whole host of issues within the academic circle in the Capital. Among other things, it is now being debated whether it should be made mandatory for academicians to go through the rigmarole of police verification to record their credentials in aspects other than academic.

Under the existing system, university teachers are not required to go through the procedure. Most teachers said that the process, if introduced, would inflict a severe scar on the `nobility’ of the teaching profession.

“ Teaching has always been considered a noble profession. A gross generalisation arising out of one exception may not be a good precedent for the authorities to set. Moreover, what should be the yardstick for checking the integrity of any teacher? If it is on the basis of political affiliations, then it might open a Pandora’s box, with a high probability of gross violation of basic rights through political high-handedness”, a teacher of Delhi University told this correspondent.

Under the existing system of governance, universities in the country enjoy a fair degree of operative autonomy even though they come under the overall supervision of the University Grants Commission (UGC). While the UGC is the nodal authority for granting of funds, introduction of new courses etc, it does not have the mandate to directly intervene in the operative functioning of the universities.

Informed people in the field of education said that the alleged involvement of the Arabic lecturer of Zakir Hussain College (Evening), Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, in the shootout may initiate serious brainstorming within the administrative machinery of the government and also within universities to prevent making the campuses as conduits for anti-national activities.

Educationists maintain that the authorities need to be careful enough not to go overboard to the extent that it might violate the fundamental norms of human rights. Moreover, historically, in India campuses have always been one of the strongest manifestations of the resilience of Indian democracy and student politics has been one of the first forums for discussions and debate with even teachers having different political predilections. “ It would be unfortunate if for just one rotten apple the honour and dignity of the profession is put under question”, a teacher said.

Status for Amity

From left to right: Mr Atul Chauhan, President of RBEF, Ms Neha from ASCO, Mrs Coomi Kapoor, Resident Editor of The Indian Express , Mr Ashok Sinha, ASCO, and Maj Gen K Jai Singh, President of RBEF.

Meanwhile, the Amity School of Communication (ASCO) held a seminar on the “Changing Trends of Media” on the Amity campus in Noida.

History congress

The 62nd session of the Indian History Congress, the national body of professional historians, is being held in Bhopal from December 28 to 30 this year. It is being hosted by Bhoj University of Bhopal.

Founded in 1935, with Sir Shafaat Ahmed Khan as its first President, the Indian History Congress has been a forum for debate on important historical issues and has been publishing its `Proceedings’ annually.

More than a thousand participants are expected to participate in this year’s session, which assumes added significance in the wake of the recent controversy on history textbooks in schools. More than 500 research papers pertaining to all aspects and periods of Indian history (including archaeology, epigraphs, numismatics and archives) are going to be presented during the seminar.

Noted historian R. S. Sharma will deliver the S. C. Memorial Lecture. Besides, there are three panel discussions devoted to “ Science and Society in Indian History”, “ Tribes, Forests and Social Formations in Indian History” and “ India and Iran: The Historical Relationships”. There will be a symposium on “Towards Freedom”, which shall be addressed by eminent historians of modern India, such as Professors V. N. Datta, K. N. Panikkar, J. V. B. Naik and V. Ramakrishna.

Student support

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has drawn out elaborate plans to upgrade the student support services in its headquarters in the Capital. Under the proposed system, there will be one single nodal authority for answering the queries of students. According to officials in IGNOU, one nodal officer would be assigned specific charge of all operational divisions, which include student registration and evaluation division, material production and distribution division and regional services division. Moreover, the university is developing a customised software to create a databank of students’ problems that will enable the authorities to keep track of the grievances and related issues.

Seminar on Granth

Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce had organised a seminar on “Sri Guru Granth Sahib: Cultural Perspective” on December 2, 2001. Professor Emeritus Dr Harbhajan Singh was the guest of honour on the occasion, while Dr Mohinder Kaur Gill delivered the keynote address. The speakers included Dr S. S. Noor, Dr Mahdeep Singh, Dr Jagbir Kaur, S Surinder Singh Johar and Dr Ram Narayan Prasad Singh.

Be innovative in publishing in IT age: L-G
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 26
The Lt-Governor, Mr Vijai Kapoor, today asked the publishers, facing hardship due to the boom of the electronic media, to be innovative and creative to meet the growing challenge.

He said the books should inculcate the spirit of enquiry, open mindedness and search of knowledge, which would enable the students to absorb information with an open mind and be free from superstitions.

“Only bookish knowledge do not help in the all-round development of the personality of students, especially in the age of computers,” Mr Kapoor said while inaugurating a conference of the Federation of Educational Publishers in the country.

He said education in language and literature should be given importance especially at the formative level so that qualities like right thinking and analytical approach to various issues were inculcated.

The Lt-Governor presented awards to eminent publishers and publishing houses including lifetime achievement award to publishers, distinguished educationist award, distinguished educational institution award, distinguished authors of educational books award, distinguished publishers awards and export promotion award.

The conference dealt with various aspects of education and publishing. The speakers spoke on topics like school education, syllabus set by different education boards, marking/grading system and the role of private sector in education.

In the publishing section, the publishers discussed the problems and prospects of publishing in the country, entry of multi-national publishing organisations and their impact on the Indian publishing.

The federation is the umbrella organisation of all the educational publishers in the country co-ordinating their activities in a cohesive and effective manner.