Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) welcomed the initiative taken by Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to keep on hold the approvals of new proposed deemed universities and for conducting strict review of existing deemed universities for their performance, admissions and fee structure. “ABVP is of the opinion that deemed universities are now the back door entries for commercialisation of education and should be reviewed,” said ABVP national president Prof Milind Marathe in a press statement issued on June 29 from Hyderabad.
He said the ABVP was of the strong opinion that Yashpal Committee Report on higher education, submitted to the Centre on June 23 should be made public and nationwide debate should be initiated on its recommendations, as they have long range consequences on education. “The concept of setting up of National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) must be debated by concerned stakeholders about its nature, functioning, scope and responsibilities. The idea of such Commission originated from Kothari Commission Report in 1968. ABVP has been supporting the concept of autonomous National Commission for the last three decades. The present proposed structure of NCHER is over centralised, which may lead to functional problems like over bureaucratisation and redtapism in higher education,” the statement said.
ABVP expressed strong reservations about the HRD Minister’s proposal to keep 10th standard examination optional, grades in place of marks for 9th and 10th standard and centralised school board for the country. Though, optional 10th standard examination is the proposal only for CBSE today, but there is every possibility of extending the same to state boards also after some period. “In this context ABVP feels that it should not be implemented for state boards because school board examinations are well established, well placed. So there is a need for a standard statewide examination, which will function as the basic qualifying marks for admissions in 11th standard. As the present system seems to be well established and there is a general acceptability for the same, ABVP feels the present system should not be disturbed in the name of radical reforms. It is a very serious matter of concern on the part of the HRD Minister to declare such decisions without consulting to state Education Ministers,” added Prof Marathe.
(FOC)
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