Covid, fake degree racket a blow to academics
Bhanu P Lohumi
Reeling under the shattering impact of the Covid pandemic, the education sector had an unusually bad year with students staying away from institutions for more than nine months and interactive classroom teaching, co-curricular activities, sports and cultural events and academics suffering a severe blow.
Homes were converted into virtual classrooms and online teaching-learning became a reality. Teaching aids were replaced by smart phones with both teachers and students, adapting to digital transformation.
Except for the final year examinations by universities and boards of school education, students were promoted to the next class without any examination.
The government prepared plans for reopening the schools and colleges but the spurt in Covid foiled all plans and schools have been closed till December 31 after 101 students of Tibetan School in Jogindernagar were found infected.
The vacillating stand of the government on recovery of full fee forced the parents to wage a war against the government to press for the demand that no other fee except the tuition fee be charged. Initially, the government directed private schools to charge only the tuition fee but later withdrew the notification, giving a free hand to the private schools to recover the deferred charges.
A fake degree racket in Manav Bharti University rocked the state and a high-level probe by SIT is underway. The promoter of the university has been arrested and an administrator has been appointed.
The Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission cracked a whip on the erring institutions and served notices to 10 out of 17 universities for appointing vice-chancellors, who did not fulfil the criteria. Three VCs have already resigned.
The government resumed regular classes in medical colleges from the first week of December and the schools closed on March 16 last are yet to reopen.
