The Gujarat high court issued notice on December 8 to the University Grants Commission (UGC), state government and all grants-in-aid universities in Gujarat (pop. 60 million), following admission of a petition demanding proper implementation of the Union governments reservation policy for SCs, STs and OBCs (scheduled caste, tribe and other backward castes/classes). A division bench directed the respondents — UGC, state government and all 13 state universities — to file their replies by December 28.The petitioners have sought direct-ions from the court to universities in the state to comply with UGC guidelines issued on December 6, 2005, praying for strict implementation of the govern-ments reservation policy in universities, colleges, and other grants-in-aid institutions and centres.
The petitioners allege that varsities in the state are not complying with the UGC guidelines for adequate SC, ST and OBC representation in the executive bodies/syndicates/senate, thereby depriving members of these communities their constitutional rights.
Meghalaya
RTE implementation debate
Educators, educationists, principals and teachers in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya (pop. 3 million) complained to the legislative assembly that Rules under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act) have not yet been drawn up by the state government. The RTE Act became law on April 1, 2010.
Representatives from church bodies, minority institutions and experts in the field of education, met on December 13 in Shillong to discuss ways and means to implement the RTE Act in the state. The interest of the existing stake-holders (in education) should be adequately protected while implementing RTE, said Manas Chaudhury, chairman of the subordinate legislation committee of the legislative assembly, speaking on the occasion. There are experts and groups running schools in villages and towns. The constitution of school managing committees should be left to these experts, he said.
Punjab
EGS teachers demand regularisation
Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) teachers, who are demanding the regularisation of their services and permanent employee status, held parleys with Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal at Chak Fatehsingh Wala village in Bhatinda on December 20. Members of the EGS Teachers Associ-ation have been staging protests in Gidderbaha since November 29, demanding regularisation of their services by the state government.
Among them, a group of six EGS teachers, including four women camped atop a water tank at Husnar village in Gidderbaha constituency for four successive days, EGS Teachers Assoc-iation president Pritpal Singh informed the media in Chandigarh. The six teachers are on a fast-unto-death even as district administration officials failed to mollify them.
The EGS teachers held talks with Badal during his sangat darshan programme on December 20. Badal assured them that their issue would be resolved in a meeting with them at Chandigarh the next day.
With a few days to go before the imposition of the election code of conduct in Punjab where legislative assembly polls are scheduled in early 2012, EGS teachers are exerting pressure on the state government for favourable consideration to their demands. More-over a few days earlier, the EGS teachers protest made national news after one of their lady members was slapped in public by a village sarpanch. The sarpanch was arrested but released on bail.
Madhya Pradesh
Atal Behari Vajpayee Hindi University
The Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly passed a historic Atal Behari Vajpayee Hindi University Bill, 2011 on December 2, paving the way for establishing the first Hindi medium university in the state to be named after the former BJP prime minister.
Piloting the Bill, higher and technical education minister, Laxmikant Sharma said that it was an historic occasion for the country and the state, that the university to be sited in Bhopal, has been named after the popular former prime minister. Vajpayees love for his mother-tongue can be gauged from the fact that when he was external affairs minister of the country, he chose to address the UN General Assembly in Hindi, said Sharma.
The Bill was passed unanimously by the assembly, though the deputy leader of the Congress legislature party Rakesh Singh Chaudhery suggested Gwalior, the birth place of Vajpayee, as the site of the proposed varsity.
Sharma said that the state government is making efforts to prepare syllabuses of subjects like engineering and medicine in Hindi, to train engineers and doctors in their own language as is done in many Asian countries.
West Bengal
First step to ending political interference
The recently elected Trinamool Congress government of West Bengal took the first step towards ending political interference in academic appointments by piloting the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, in the state legislative assembly on December 23. Introducing the Bill, state higher education minister Bratya Basu said the objective of the Bill was to ensure transparency in the appointment of vice chancellors, and free universities from political inter-ference in the cause of academic excellence.
According to the provisions of the Bill, vice chancellors will henceforth be selected by a search committee compri-sing the chancellor, chairman of the UGC, and a retired high court judge. We have intentionally not included any government nominee, Basu told the assembly.
The new legislation would be applicable to the Calcutta, North Bengal, Burdwan, Vidyasagar, Kalyani, WB State, Gour Banga, Jadavpur, Rabindra Bharati, Netaji Subhas Open, BESU, and WBUT universities. The previous Left Front government was often accused of nominating vice chancellors and faculty in educational institutions by opposi-tion parties and academics alike.