The Centre appointed committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanium to look into aspects of improvements education sector has suggested that the appointment of Vice Chancellors (V-C) should be depoliticised. The report submitted to HRD Ministry has mentioned political interference in all senior level appointments has been the most important reason for poor outcomes in education sector.
The committee, set up to give suggestions for the New Education Policy (NEP), also said that it is "undeniable" that there is large scale corruption in appointments, transfers, approval to affiliate and grant recognition of institutions, even going to the extent of manipulation of exam results.
The committee has said that political intervention from all levels is all pervasive in selecting location of institutions, approval of grant-in-aid status, selection of examination centres and in all senior appointments and in many states from VC to college Principals to District Education Officers.
It said that during meetings with national educational institutions at Delhi or informal contacts with state officials across India, the single most important reason mentioned by all respondents was "political interference".
The panel observed that when national accrediting agencies were asked to explain why undeserving educational institutions often received rapid accreditation, while 'more qualified' institutions waited for long periods, the answer almost invariably would relate to political interference.
In its report, the panel has dealt in detail with the issue of appointment of VCs, which it says should be the embodiment of scholarship, wisdom and high academic stature. "Persons like Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr laxman Swami Muddaliar, Pandit Amarnath Jha, Dr Zakir Husain, Dr Amrik Singh etc have been in this position, " it noted.
Among the suggestions made by it are that the process of selection and appointment of Vice-Chancellor should be "depoliticised" and done purely on merit. It has also suggested that independent mechanism for teacher recruitment, creation of an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board and revamp of teacher education system.
Apart from Subramanian, the other members of the panel include Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi, Sewaram Sharma, former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi, Sudhir Mankad, former Chief Secretary, Gujarat and Prof J S Rajput, former Director, NCERT.
"The search committees go through the motions and process of selection, but their recommendations are unfortunately generally pre-determined. The result is that, in fact, most VCs are political appointees," the panel said.
Another recommendation is that a new transparent system should be established for approval, affiliation and regular evaluation of new institutions, with transparent processes, based on clearly established principles, with full public disclosure.
The panel also said that at the school level (postings and transfers of principals and teachers), at block and district level, the common refrain of all officials involved in education would relate to 'politics' as the mainspring for non-performance. It said “extraneous factors relating to improper monetary considerations often become the decisive factor in the selection process.
The panel also factored that sometimes allegation of corruption could be made falsely even to shift blame but added that whether or not these adverse comments are, largely true or not, the conclusion is inescapable that governance standards at all levels has been poor.