Bihar varsities in doldrums

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Thile Bihar faces an acute shortage of university teachers, severely affecting higher education, the controversy regarding its recruitment policy has disheartened aspirants. The state government had asked the Bihar Public Service Commission to put on hold the interviews of 3,345 candidates for the post of assistant professor with RJD chief Lalu Prasad seeking 80 per cent reservation for locals with outsiders filling vacancies for subjects such as English.

But Justice AK Tripathy of the Patna High Court last month stayed the government order (stopping the appointment process). The state government is now seeking legal opinion before moving a double Bench.

With the Nitish Kumar abolishing the State University Commission, vacancies in universities have not been filled since 2003. Hundreds of teachers having retired since, further crippling the education system.

In Bihar, there are 17 universities and more than 850 colleges. Some colleges have a single teacher. “Chandradev Narayan College, Sahebganj, a constituent college of BRA Bihar University with 3,500 students, has only one teacher — Bharat Prasad Singh. It’s the same story in almost all colleges in rural Bihar,” claimed Arun Kumar Singh, general secretary, Bihar University Service Teachers Association.

Varsity commission

With the state government set to revive the University Service Commission, teachers’ associations are sceptical that such a step may lead to corruption and nepotism.

“Since the University Service Commission is not a constitutional body, the state government has the privilege to appoint its favourites to extort money. Nitish Kumar had in 2007 abolished the commission. Why his government has decided to revive the old system is questionable.

“Reviving the old system would mean reviving favouritism, nepotism and bribery. The universities should raise their voice against the government move if they want to maintain the sanctity of higher education,” said former Chief Secretary VS Dubey.

Plight of staff

Against the sanctioned strength of 11,000, there are in only 2,000 university teachers in the state. “The universities have been reduced to academic centres to award degrees to students,” said Prof Jatan Sinha of Patna University.

“The state government has decided to financially aid affiliated colleges, depending on their students’ result. But we know that this can be manipulated,” pointed out Harendra Kumar, senator, BRA Bihar University.

It is time the Nitish Kumar government, that claims to be working towards social justice, focuses on quality education. “At least 80 per cent students in Bihar colleges are either Dalits or from minority communities. The state government must upgrade the education standards, if it wants them to prosper,” said Prof Arun Kumar Singh.