Parliamentary panel’s push for faculty evaluation mechanism

A panel of legislators, headed by BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabudhe, has suggested that the Centre should try on an experimental basis, a mechanism of evaluating the performance of faculties in colleges and universities by peers and students to improve teaching standards.

“The Committee recommends that at least on an experimental basis a mechanism for ensuring the accountability and performance of faculties in the universities and colleges should be put in place similar to that of foreign universities where the performance of college professors/teachers is evaluated by their peers and students,” the Committee said in its report.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports took a strong note of colleges associating with coaching institutes for students enrolled with them and asked the education ministry to work with state governments to work out a mechanism to curb the trend.

The committee said that this encouraged the growing commercialisation of education, and made the learning process “a farce through this unholy nexus” between coaching classes and colleges. To punish such institutions, the panel asked the government to derecognise them and suggested that the Centre set up a study group to assess ground realities.

The panel noted the increasing instances of question paper leaks and asked the government to consider an institution’s exam management competency a must parameter for accreditation.