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| College teachers authorized research supervisors | | | Prof Javed Muhal
A wave of happiness
and boundless joy permeated through the entire college faculty when quite an unexpected and dramatic but long-awaited and justified order came from the corridors of Civil secretariat authorizing qualified College faculty to supervise Ph. D Scholars in all streams. This order was followed by quite expected reaction from JUTA and KUTA. It is difficult to understand as to why JUTA and KUTA reacted against this stance of Higher Education Department.
This welcome move of the department of Higher Education, in fact, does stand in favour of thousands of Research aspirants who neither can afford to go to Universities out of state for perusing their doctoral studies nor can they be accommodated in the state Universities because of saturation already going on. The Guides in University of Jammu and that of Kashmir are over burdened and hence they can not spare time to guide more scholars.
So many people can be spotted who could not have a chance to go for research only because the University Teachers were already pre-occupied. I am one of many to have had so many rounds of Jammu University and Kashmir University as well with the intention to have enrollment for Research work but came back with a big load of disappointment. I was denied the opportunity saying, "there is still no vacancy. You please wait. We have so many aspirants and even applicants who are in line." I was fed up with this stereo-typed answer of the university people. At one time I was bound to feel wry-faced with the University authorities for their arrogant attitude. This decision of the department of Higher Education of department to authorize the College Assistant and Associate Professors having doctoral degree is quite beneficial for the research aspirants and at the same time the college faculty shall have an opportunity to utilize their research potential otherwise there is no any instant utilization of 'Ph. D' for undergraduate classes.
Number of scholars, by authorizing the College faculty to act as Guides/ Supervisors, shall tremendously increase. Another immediate significance of this decision is to bring a permanent end to the monopoly of one particular segment of educational system, discourage the exploitation of Scholars, and facilitate the research work for a larger number of students. Let me go a step further to say that I could not do doctorate because my Department of English in Jammu University was already over-crowded with the scholars and hence it could not have time to accommodate me as a research scholar. Apart from it we must be well acquainted with the fact that almost all the affiliated Colleges of other universities of India are definitely offering research opportunities to the aspirants but due to the reasons best known to the erstwhile authorities in government and the Universities of Jammu and Kashmir or the conventional innocence of the colleges, the College Teachers were not permitted to supervise the research scholars. There is no any provision in UGC preventing College Teachers from acting as Guides and Co-Guides.
The Universities of our state keeping in view the demand of the time and circumstances should have taken this initiative on their own long back. It is a bare fact that due to over-saturation, even the Research Notification is not issued on due dates.
Another thing which I want to manifest upon the esteemed readers, I may be wrong or may be right also, that the research work being confined to the University Teachers only has lost its significance to the great extent. It shall not be out of place to say that the Research Quality which was in vogue twenty years ago is now a distant and impractical dream for the simple reason that during those times there was no such a big inflow of scholars, the teachers were not over burdened, they had time enough to patronize their scholars and the scholars were not compelled to manage their thesis by hook or by crook. Now-a-days the cult of research is committing suicide in Universities. Let me transcend all barriers of rudeness to say that today we can come across so many Ph. Ds degree holders who can not justify their position at all.
So keeping all this deplorable plight of this very sensitive stage of education, the Govt. increased the number of Research Supervisors curtailing the burden from the ductile shoulders of the University faculty and subsequently provided a bigger number of research opportunities to the young lot of society.
This step of the Principal Secretary to Govt for Higher Education is quite in the interest of so many sufferers and is an attempt to emancipate the research from the shackles of few quarters.
The objection was raised on the technical status of the order issued by the Principal Secretary Higher Education on the ground the Principal Secretary can not ask the University Authorities for compliance of the order because the Universities are autonomous. Let me clear this confusion gripping the psyche of many of us.
All the institutions functioning in the state are subordinate to government directly or indirectly and their survival is the primary responsibility of the state government. Their life or their continuity depends on their productivity, performance and then their desideratum.
The Universities are established after the approval of the state government that extends huge funds for their survival. By autonomous we mean that certain extra powers are delegated to this institution by the government within the legal frame work. Any decision issued by the govt. or any legal stance taken by the govt. is binding on the university and the university is bound to implemet it in letter and spirit.
There are three lists of powers- the 'Union List' containing the areas where-on only the center govt. can legislate, secondly the 'Concurrent List' that encompasses the subjects on which both the center and the state unanimously take decisions and thirdly the 'State List' which enshrines all the domains on which the state enjoys absolute powers to make laws and take decisions. This way Education falls in the state List regarding which the state govt. is all powerful. All the educational institutions are the sole responsibility of the state govt. hence any order jumping out the corridor of state govt housed in the civil secretariat is quite potent to tell upon the health of any educational center from Primary School to the University. And these powers are exercised by the Principal Secretaries who are the constitutional representative and the consent of Ministers who are public representative. So any order issued by the Combo of a Minister and a Principal Secretary can even shutter down the university, let alone asking the VC to comply with.
The Vice Chancellor is also one of the functionaries who has to follow the dictates of the govt. The University authorities must understand this reality shunning all prejudices and be large hearted enough to tolerate their colleges' counterparts also.
The Colleges are nothing but the extension of the Universities. The Colleges feed Universities. So our universities must be kind enough to accommodate their college colleagues. There is nothing to make personal and prestige issue. We all are the birds of the same flock. The Govt. has not taken away their share of the University at all. It has simply lightened their burden and broadened the field of research for the scholars. |
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