 |
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE | Tuesday, May 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
Post of Pro-VC is unwanted burden on exchequer Mohan Singh Johal IT is a fact that there was no provision for the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the original Acts of most universities. The Act of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and that of Punjabi University, Patiala, are testimony to it. The post was later introduced with an amendment in the Act, as in the case of Guru Nanak Dev University in 1975. To me, the purpose was other than academic. System of two men at top spells misgovernance The term Pro-Vice-Chancellor is a misnomer ‘Decentralisation of power must’ READERS'
RESPONSE
|
|
|
Post of Pro-VC is unwanted burden on exchequer IT is a fact that there was no provision for the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the original Acts of most universities. The Act of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and that of Punjabi University, Patiala, are testimony to it. The post was later introduced with an amendment in the Act, as in the case of Guru Nanak Dev University in 1975. To me, the purpose was other than academic. The procedure of appointment and mode of extension of the office of Pro-Vice-Chancellor are the same as those for the appointment and extension of the Vice-Chancellor. He\ She is to be appointed and given extension, if any, by the Chancellor (Governor of the state) on the advice of the state government. But when we look into the nature of powers and duties of the aforesaid top officers of the university, we find a qualitative difference in these. The Vice-Chancellor is the principal executive and academic officer of the university. He is to exercise general control over its affairs, though in accordance with the statutes, ordinances etc. He is ex-officio Chairman of main bodies\ authorities of the university and can even preside at any convocation in the absence of the Chancellor. He is entitled to be present at and address any meeting of any authority body of the university. On the other hand, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor is simply to assist the VC and even that in respect of such matters as to be defined by the Vice-Chancellor. He may exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the VC He is surely subordinate to the latter. It is crystal clear that the office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor is lower than that of the Registrar of the university, who is a whole-time administrative officer. His status is not even equal to that of Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, who though being non-administrative officer, may give his opinion on almost all matters, though informally. Under the given situation, it is must that a separate provision be made in relevant rules to a given, powers and duties to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor. From my humble experience as a principal of degree colleges, Deputy Registrar and Registrar and Secretary to VC of a university for six years, I am of the definite opinion that the position of Pro-Vice-Chancellor is superfluous and be done away with. The VC and Pro-VC other do not believe in co-existence, which means no-existence. They rarely co-operate in day-to-day working. As a result, academic, educational and administrative environment is disturbed and polluted. Ordinarily, the Vice-Chancellor assigns routine tasks and unimportant jobs ( in his view) to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, for which there is already more than sufficient staff. The latter is merely to sign the cases for final orders. As a result, most of the time he sits idle with his huge paraphernalia. His office becomes a visiting place for sycophants for back-biting. Is such an atmosphere healthy and congenial for academic and intellectual growth ? Certainly not. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor’s position is an unwanted burden on the exchequer of the university. The sooner it is abolished, the better it is. The writer is former
Registrar, GNDU, Amritsar. |
|
|
System of two men at top spells misgovernance FOR a long time Indian universities had been functioning without the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Pro-VC). Many universities till date do not have this post but some universities have come to establish this post which has come to acquire a controversial character. Many a time the incumbents create a controversy on trivial issues inviting adverse publicity. The issues involved reflect ego clash over exercise of authority or sharing of spoils. In some cases, incumbents have no useful function to perform, reflecting redundancy of this post. Indian universities are facing problems elated to crisis of governance. This is observed in the form of delays in decision-making, non-implementation of the decision taken, non-responsiveness to the problems of students and faculty, lack of functioning based on the rule of the law and other distortions. In such a situation, arrival of a Pro-VC as another centre of power complicates the problems. This leads to a vertical division in the faculty and administration. Pro-VCs are known as anti-VCs. on campuses. Like the Vice-Chancellor, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor is appointed by the Chancellor on the recommendations of the government. Since the Vice-Chancellor is not consulted in his appointment, the former has his/her own grudge and difficulties in sharing power. As per the university legislation, the Pro-VC performs those duties which are assigned to him by the Vice-Chancellor. After Pro-VCs become disgruntled because the work’ assigned to them is either peripheral or most "difficult". Hence, they become a rallying point for anti-V.C. activities. As an insider to top administration and being member of all high-powered committees, the Pro-VCs has the potential to encourage dissensions and block genuine processes of change to improve efficiency and for effective governance. Instead of improving functioning, the dissatisfied Pro-VCs often become cause of non-governance. In fact, Pro-VCs are appointed when the governments are not happy with the VCs, being appointees of previous government. The luxury of non-governance/misgovernance can not be afforded at this juncture. The Haryana Government has rightly abolished the position of Pro -VC in all universities and given the marching orders to existing incumbents (even though the purpose was different). Most of the universities are faced with financial crisis. The abolition of the post of Pro-VC would save expenditure on account of salary to the incumbent and is supporting staff (nearly Rs 10 lakh every year) and perks. By abolishing this position, the universities can meet the salaries of a Professor, a Reader and two lecturers on their initial pay scale. The funds can be used for starting new, useful courses. In a phase when higher education will be opened to foreign universities and institutions of higher learning with implementation of GAT, the Indian universities are going to face tough competition. Already, a process has begun as foreign universities, especially from the USA, the UK and Australia, are competing to attract Indian students. Those Indian universities would be able to compete which improve their functioning and raise the quality of higher education. This would require improvement in academic governance and making the system of dissemination of knowledge more effective. The writer is a teacher
of economics, Punjabi University, Patiala. |
|
|
The term Pro-Vice-Chancellor is a misnomer THE office of the pro-Vice-Chancellor was meant to assist the Vice-Chancellor. It is also provided in the statutes that in case of illness or absence on leave of the Vice-Chancellor or in any other contingency, the Pro-VC shall preside over the meetings of the university and exercise such other powers and perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the Vice-Chancellor. In this context, the office of the Pro-VC is not an independent one, but subsidiary extension of the office of the VC Thus, the Pro-VC is supposed to work with VC in tendem to share responsibilities and powers. In other words, Pro-VC should be the right-hand man of the VC, but this happens rarely. In practice, the term Pro-VC has proven to be a misnomer. Rather then being Pro-VC, it is always anti-VC. In the universities of the region, appointed by the Chancellor Pro-VC’s almost never owe respect to the office of VC. Rather, they consider equal with the VC and have parallel functioning. Even if the Pro-VC appears to be in harmony with the VC, he often provides misinformation and disinformation, leading to disharmony in the institution. To assert themselves, all Pro-VC’s work in a similar fashion. They invariably act as rallying point of dissent. Another tactic is to embarrass the VC at meetings of the university by raising issues against him. Another important arena is the selection committees where the Pro-VC can show is importance. Thanks to the new guidelines of the UGC, Pro-VC’s are no more its members. The Pro-VC’s would behave like agents of political parties, rather then academicians. The Pro-VC’s office has proved to be a white elephent and deserves to be abolished. The lead taken by the Haryana and Himachal Government is laudable. Punjab should also abolish the post forthwith. — The writer is a
former president of the Punjabi University Teachers Association,
Patiala. |
|
|
‘Decentralisation of power must’ Defending the appointment of Pro-VCs, Dr Satinder Singh, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, says the post helps in decentralisation of powers vested with the Vice-Chancellors and improves overall working of institutions of higher learning. Hence, it should not be considered a financial burden. Here are excerpts from his interview with TNS: Q) Is the post superficial: Jawaharlal Nehru University should be considered as model for universities. A) The university has two Pro- VCs for smooth functioning. They share the burden of the Vice-Chancellor who remains awfully busy in day-to-day working". Q) But the Pro-VC has no permanent task/role assigned to him. A) The university calendar needs to be amended to give powers to the Pro-Vice-Chancellors so that there is no conflict with the VC. The VC enjoy absolute powers, as per the university calendar Hence, whatever is given to the Pro-VC absolutely depends on his (VC’s) discretion. However, I and the VC, Dr S.P. Singh, have been working in complete harmony. "It is the need of the hour to appoint a Pro-VC due to increased burden with the establishment of two Regional Centres of the university at Jalandhar and Gurdaspur." "If the UGC can have a Chairman and Vice-Chairman, why can a university not have a Pro-VC to assist the VC? Q) Should the appointment of Pro-VC be made with the consent of the Vice-Chancellor for better coordination? A) This is not required. (He dismisses the argument that the appointment amounts to political interference). If the Pro-VC work as per the guidelines of Vice-Chancellors, there is no room for conflict. It may be mentioned that
the appointment of Pro-VC in central universities is invariably made
after consulting the Vice-Chancellor.
|
|
|
READERS'
RESPONSE MS Barinder Aulakh in her article "Teaching English In Punjab leaves much to be desired" published in The Tribune on May 6, 2003, has rightly listed the difficulties primary school teachers are likely to face if they are assigned the job of teaching English. In fact, a group of teachers were initiated into the new techniques of teaching English at The Regional Institute of English, Chandigarh, at a three-day course. Soonafter, the then Education Minister had made an announcement about the government plan of introducing English in Class I and training teachers by teacher-trainers. As the Director of the institute then, it was my duty to refute his claim regarding the training of tutors and I did so through "Editor Mail" of your paper. I had pointed out that three days training was not enough to for the trainers to take up such a responsible assignment. I had also expressed views about the efficacy of that programme because I had reservations about the proficiency in English of most teachers teaching at the Primary level. I do not think much has changed since then. I still believe no teaching is better than bad teaching as it does more harm than good. I fully agree with Ms Aulakh that learning a language means not merely mastering the correct form of the language, but also using the form appropriately in a given situation. If English has to be taught at the primary level, besides well-designed textbooks and practice material for students, teachers’ handbooks should be available and teachers be trained to use these. HARJIT VASUDEV Director (retd),
Regional Institute of English, Chandigarh |
 |
 |
