IIM Bill Against Autonomy But In Public Interest Too

Ministry of Human Resource & Development have drafted a Bill having clauses defining various structural and functional details for IIMs. The clause in the draft differ from those of the proposal  by IIM community. Some of the key points of differences are :

1. IIM proposed status of Institute of National Importance only to all the IIMs while MHRD plans it for other esteemed management institutes as well.
2. IIM proposed complete independence in deciding the fee structure while MHRD keeps the final decisive authority with itself.
3. IIM proposed independence and power to create and appoint academic posts while MHRD wishes to have the key to the final appointments.
4. The IIMs have opposed the constitution of an coordinating umbrella body.

These differences are said to be infringing the autonomy of the IIMs by direct interference of the government in the structure and procedure of the premier management  institutes.

No doubt this is interference with the autonomy of the institute but all the interference cannot be  said to be unjust. The proposal of the IIMs that only they should be having status of Institute Of National Importance cannot be justified because if one looks at the ranking of management institutes based upon various parameters, all IIMs are not of equal quality. There are many other institutes like IIFT, MDI, etc. which occupy much higher position than the new IIMs in the list. Denying them the status of National Importance would be unjust.

Secondly, the fee charged by almost all management institutes in India lies in the bracket of 10-15lacks, which is very high for a middle class student. Management institutes including IIMs charge more than the triple than what is charged by esteem engineering institutes. This restricts a large section of middle class students from attempting their career in management. Regulation by the government is expected to lower this extremely high fee, which would help to materialize the dreams of the potential middle class students.

The quality and standard of the IIMs for which they are known worldwide  cannot be compromised at any cost. So in other words, government cannot reduce the fee or total financial input of the IIMs but it can subsidize it. Government, like in case of IITs and IIITs, can provide funds based on the requirements to meet their expenses. But what is feared is that this allocation of funds would some day or the other be politicized and hence degrade the quality of these institutes.

One clause which is completely unacceptable is that the creation of posts and appointment at those posts will be by government consent. In other words, government will decide who will be the faculty and who will manage the institute and will also indirectly determine the curriculum. There were speculations that the Modi governmet is trying to saffronise the education in India with all the key posts acquired by their appointed people. This seems to be one step forward towards that goal adding weight to the doubts. What is the requirement of this interference? IIMs have always been getting the best if the faculties and have functioned brilliantly.

MHRD has also proposed for awarding degree instead of diploma in management which have stayed questionable in certain countries. This is welcomed and also much much awaited move.

Formation of an umbrella body for establishing coordination is not a good idea as it would finally end up in confusion and allegations. This would completely end the autonomy of the institutes. The responsibility in present scenario is distributed among all the members of the same institute and they are responsible for anything good or bad happens to the institute. This gives a sense of belonging to those working for the betterment of the institute. Formation of a separate body would divide the responsibility and hence will result in confusion and interdependency in the system. The passion and willingness to work for the development of the institute by its people would be lost. Self reliance and independent attitude is what makes up IIMs.

This Bill prepared by MHRD shows a mix of intentions. On one hand, conversion of diploma to degree, regularisation of fee and status of Institute if National Importance to institutes other than IIMs also are welcomed, whereas on the other hand the interference in the personal appointment in institutions and formation of an umbrella body for coordination is direct attack on the very basic sense of autonomy of IIMs which have been the face of quality management programs in India. This Bill with some changes would be good unless it is used as a tool to interfere in every internal matter of the institute.

Target Indian Education System : Attack!!

The Ministry of Human Resource and Development, looks calm but planning and executing a hell lot ideas and policies without much consultations and discussions with the stakeholders. 
God knows what this new government has in its mind for the education and research system of the country. They have already lowered the low budget allocated for education and research, from about 83000 cr to 69000 cr. The funds for higher education has been reduced to 13000cr from 16900cr. Quite a big reduction!! 
The remaining responsibility of damage has been handed over to MHRD. They are planning to revive the Central University Act to centralise everything. I mean everything!

There will be common test for admission to all universities, admission procedure will be common, syllabus will be common, material will be common, and even faculties will be shared among universities making them common too! At first look, it looks out to be quite nice and decent system, but its not! Just imagine, if this is passed, what will the system be like?
One will have to give only one exam for getting admission to any university. He will have the same course to study at DU and also the CSJM (Kanpur university). He will have chances to get lectures from any professor in any Indian university, he will have to study the same things, he will have to give central exam, i.e. a kind of board exam having all boards. I mean what the hell! Why will i try to study harder to secure admission in some “good university” (according to present system) when ill be getting same thing at my hometown? Ill just clear the cutoff and enjoy! This system will discourage the very soul of competition and necessity to study. This is not going to improve the bad ones but surely degrade the good ones. 

This “1 nation 1 university” scheme will be a disaster for the unique identity and specialization that each university holds today which is developed over decades of work and influenced by geographical conditions and traditions. The soul of the university will be lost. The very idea with which each university was established will be lost. And what will we get in return? Improved level of literally horrible universities pulling down the very high standard dream universities! 

Moreover, sharing of faculty. In other words, faculty will be transferable. That means, government will have power to transfer a faculty from any university to any university in India. That’s like the Civil Services. And this weapon of “transfer” is being used traditionally to punish or favor. This will induce politics in the education system and the players this time would be faculties. India cannot afford that at this stage.

There are rumors that this act of government is inspired by Sangh Parivar. Who have tirelessly worked for decades to modify every structure existing according to their ideology. This would mean that the curriculum will have more of traditions than research, more of Sangh interpretation of history than what is acceptable world wide. The appointments to educational bodies like IITs, ICSSR would be through Sangh, who will then have gala time implementing their ideology and agendas! That’s dangerous! Give it a thought!

Students and teachers k janhit me jaari! :p