Whither higher education reforms?

Updated on: Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Will it be a slip between the cup and the lip for the Department of Education in its attempts to create a new template for higher learning in Kerala? In other words will the State see the contours of a new policy on higher education before the final whistle blows on the tenure of the present LDF government?

Will crucial reform initiatives launched so far remain incomplete without a much-needed policy back-up which will provide a conceptual clarity about the reasons behind those measures?

These questions assume significance against the backdrop of upcoming elections in Kerala both at the level of the local bodies and to the State Assembly. Elections and the code of conduct which accompanies them often slow down policy initiatives.

Though universities have switched to the credit and semester system for their undergraduate programmes, contributions continue to flow into the Higher Education Scholarship Fund and clusters of colleges have been set up, the State is yet to see a functioning open university. It is yet to have a centralised admission system for universities, an academic staff college in all universities. The revision of the Acts and Statutes of its universities is still pending.

Crucial portions of the higher education jigsaw in Kerala — as delineated in the draft report of the Committee for The Kerala State Policy on Higher Education—remain blank till date. Ironically, the committee headed by U. R. Ananthamurthy is yet to submit its final report.

The member-secretary of the Kerala State Higher Education Council Thomas Joseph told The Hindu-EducationPlus that the Ananthamurthy committee will be able to finalise its report as soon as the State is able to give the committee its feedback on the draft recommendations. “We have received some feedback from the academic community, but very few have clear-cut suggestions or alternative recommendations. We would appreciate it if we get some more suggestions, this month itself,” he added.

The draft report the committee submitted one-and-a-half years ago laid down a five-year Plan of Action (POA) for the higher education sector in Kerala.

Increase public spending on education to 30 per cent of State budget in the next three years, of which 30 per cent should be set apart for higher and technical education.

Fill all the existing vacancies of teachers on a priority basis and abolish the system of guest/contract faculty.

Implement curricular reforms at the undergraduate level by introducing the components of grading, semester, credit, continuous internal evaluation and student feedback.

Implement Right to Information Act in all higher education institutions.

Government, aided and unaided streams should be separated from one another, spatially and administratively.

Establish clusters of colleges at selected centres across the State.

Establish Academic Staff Colleges (ASC) in all universities.

Establish an Open University and de-link distance/ private learning/ continuing education from regular universities.

Set up a Higher Education Scholarship Fund.

Set up a College Service Commission for the recruitment of teachers.

Institute a centralised system of admission of students through the universities.

Revise Acts and statutes of Universities to make the governance structures of universities and colleges more academically oriented and socially accountable.

As on date only three of these 12 suggestions have been implemented in the State. Curricular reforms have been implemented for undergraduate (degree) programmes in all universities in the State. A Higher Education Scholarship Fund was launched by the Prime Minister in Thiruvananthapuram early in 2010 and three college clusters were established in as many locations in the State.

Though these initiatives by themselves took a lot of effort and initiative from the university administrations, the vice-chancellors and by the Kerala State Higher Education Council, it also brings to focus what remains to be done.

A key recommendation of the draft report is the setting up of an open university. The bottom line here is the spatial and academic separation of regular university course and private/ distance learning. Though the government has okayed the concept of an open university and has taken some steps in this direction, an up-and-running open university does not appear to be an immediate reality.

The draft Ananthamurthy Committee report had also recommended that the system of employing guest faculty in institutions of higher learning be abolished. The committee also recommended that all existing vacancies of teachers in colleges be filled "on a priority basis".

When the Education Department tried to identify the exact number of such vacancies, it realised that various stakeholders had divergent views on the number. This divergence kept delaying a final governmental nod for filling the vacancies. Finally, the government approved the appointment of 1500-odd teachers. The catch here is that government approvals will not fill these vacancies. However, it is anybody's guess as to when these teachers will start teaching in colleges across the State. The recommendation for setting up a College Service Commission for the recruitment of teachers too remains on paper. The revision of the ages-old Acts and Statues of universities was another major recommendation of the draft report. The aim here was to "make the governance structures of universities and colleges more academically oriented and socially accountable". A few months ago the Kerala State Higher Education Council appointed a committee headed by M. Ananda Krishnan to suggest revisions in university laws. This committee is expected to submit its report by the end of 2010. The key question here too is, "will the present government have enough time to go through with those reforms?"

Then there is the question of political consensus; something that is an essential pre-requisite of an education policy that has a broad continuity. So far such a consensus has eluded the government. According sources in the government there are plans to convene an all-party meeting shortly to try and hammer out a consensus on key reform areas in this sector.

When the LDF government first set out to reform the higher education sector, there were many academics who warned that reforms should be comprehensive and evenly- paced so that one measure logically leads to the next. In the absence of a policy framework for reforms in the higher education sector and of a thorough overhaul of university laws, the changes now underway are in danger of being seen as the ideas of one government which need not be supported or continued by another.

Whither higher education reforms?

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