Allowing tainted colleges part of reforms: BU V-C

Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Prof B Thimme Gowda said on Monday that the decision to allow tainted colleges to conduct the exam was part of reform measures.

At a press meet after the exam, Gowda said, “Somebody had to take the blame and the university decided to take it.” He said he knew that allowing the colleges to conduct the exam would result in some problems, but he decided to go ahead as he did not want the students to be affected.

“It is only for this time that we are allowing it. Disaffiliating colleges is not the answer. We should give them a chance to improve,” he said. With respect to missing registers and the incomplete data of candidates furnished by several colleges, Gowda said such candidates will not be allowed to write the exam from Tuesday. Padmashree College, Gear College and Venkateshwara College are a few examples. Colleges that have not maintained the register at all will not be allowed to conduct the exam from Tuesday. In case of those colleges where partial information is available, only the candidates whose details are entered in the admission records will be allowed to take the exam, he said.

The university had constituted the Local Inquiry Committees, the Task Force on BEd colleges and three other committees to inspect the colleges. On the other hand, the government had constituted 33 committees to inspect all the teacher education colleges in the State. There is variation in the observations of the committees, without common parameters for either granting the affiliation or for recommending disaffiliation. This is the reason why the university could not consider all the reports and had to allow all the colleges to conduct the exam, said the Vice-Chancellor.

To rectify this, the university is developing a mechanism for inspection of colleges that will ensure uniformity in the reports. Moreover, a single committee will be constituted to inspect all the 47 colleges whose affiliation is under question, to ensure uniformity in the observations, he said. This committee will include former V-Cs, a KAS officer and an educationist. The Higher Education Department will suggest some names. The committee will be constituted within a week, he added.

V-C admits to lacunae

The BEd college problem is a collective responsibility. The problem has accumulated over the years and it is not fair to put the blame on one person, Gowda said. He said there was a delay from the university’s end as he was recently appointed and he took time to understand the problem.

“We have to eliminate the problem of off-campus students writing the exam without attending classes,” he said, adding that the university welcomed inputs with regard to catching the culprits. If anyone provides evidence against any college indulging in irregularities, he will personally give a police complaint, the V-C said.

‘No uniformity’

The decision of the V-C to not allow candidates from some colleges that did not have adequate records of their students to write the exam from Tuesday has come under criticism.

The V-C’s decision was regarding colleges that he inspected in the morning, adding up to four colleges.

However, college managements that came under the scanner complained that all other similar colleges, with inadequate data of their candidates, were allowed to conduct the exam as the V-C did not visit any of those colleges.
It is alleged that colleges that the registrar (evaluation) inspected were allowed to conduct the exam, in spite of not complying with the examination norms.  
DH News Service