Saturday,
September 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India
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TIME and again, the University Grants Commission (UGC) reminds the universities in the country to increase the number of teaching days on the campus and in their affiliated colleges to 180 in an academic session. This, according to it, will help in creating a more meaningful academic environment and will give a shot in the arm to the declining interest in classroom teaching. To show its grave concern and academic leanings, the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Haryana, recently sent a circular to all the principals of the privately managed colleges of the state to refrain from declaring a holiday in the college even in the unfortunate incident of the death of an employee of the institution. This, according to the DHE, is detrimental to the
interests of learning and minimises the number of teaching days in colleges. No approach can be more myopic, sadistic and inhumane than this. It seems that no one in the DHE is bothered to look into the actual reasons for the loss of precious teaching days. During the academic session 1999-2000, over 20-30 teaching days were wasted because of the elections to the legislative assemblies and panchayats. College buildings and the staff were at the disposal of the district administration for months together, resulting in the disruption of studies. Not that the teachers resented election duties but the point that I wish to drive home is that the teachers are almost never responsible for the loss of teaching days. It is always due to the administrative lapses at the university or the government level that such a problem arises. |
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