Taking Universities from Classes to the Masses

by NANDKUMAR KAMAT
Posted on 2008-09-15
THE realistic and consolidated mass response time in Goa on issues of public interest is roughly five to ten years. On many occasions it is difficult to control the damage already done as the Goa government has realised in case of Mormugao Port trust’s (MPT) jurisdictional claims since 1964 over the port area of Betul and the problems faced in scrapping the special economic zones (SEZs) already sanctioned by the central government.
Goa was granted statehood in 1987 but still the legislative assembly unanimously resolved recently to seek ‘special status’ for Goa on par with Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This means it took 21 years for the state political class and economically active section to see that ‘injustice’ is being done to Goa under the federal structure. The process of preparing the controversial regional plan-2011, which now stands de-notified, had actually begun in 1999 with fairly good publicity. But people and activists who later had become active to oppose it did not then show any interest in its’ preparation or revision. The awakening came late in December 2005 when the church raised certain valid and pointed questions. The controversial aspects of the plan were made public in August 2006 and the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) was launched in December 2006.
The society, the political class, the legislators and the economically active section would also wake up after five to seven years if Goa timidly permits the take over of the state university by central government and loses its’ rightful claim for a separate central as also another world class university to cater to specific and advanced educational, training and research areas outside the mandate, scope and functional domain of Goa University. The saying – ‘think globally act locally’ applies to the university system in India.
The world-class universities need a global focus and would not be interested in confining themselves only to national issues. The central universities would naturally have a national focus and would not be able to do justice to the needs and priorities of the states. This flows very clearly from the statutes of the central universities in India. The public funded universities established by the state under legislative supervision are expected to be dynamic vehicles of change to radically transform the local society, economy, industry, trade, commerce, art and culture. The focus of the state universities in the 21st century therefore has become much more important provided they learn to adapt and adjust to the needs of the local society and economy.
The real debate therefore has to be on ‘decentralising the role and functions of the state universities’ and as mandated equip them with the necessary resources and make them work creatively and dynamically with a new and pro-people agenda for all round development of the state. Right since the inception of the Govardhandas Parekh committee (1962-5) a lot of thought had gone into developing higher education in Goa. Goans were not confused about their identities in the 70s and 80s and therefore they demanded a separate state university. The Goa University Bill was actually ready to be introduced in 1974 but was stalled because of subsequent political developments.
After prolonged agitation (1977-1984) by students’ unions, the government finally prepared a new bill. The purpose of demanding a state university is made clear in section 4 of the bill. From time to time the legislative assembly should have expanded and upgraded this section to really make the state university work vigorously hand in hand with the government, industries and the civil society. That would have really taken the university from the classes to the masses and the society would have looked at the university as a dependable intellectual guardian and a faithful and creative collaborator.
The first objective clearly says that the university shall pay special attention to the improvement of social and economic welfare of the people of the state of Goa by developing suitable programmes in community development and human relations. The second objective expects the university to promote interest in the life, literatures, languages and cultures of the people of the state of Goa. The third objective mandates the university to establish schools of studies in disciplines relevant to the life, needs and aspirations of the people of the state of Goa and its geographical and industrial profile. The fourth objective is extremely important. The university as per this objective is mandated to provide adequate facilities for the educational and professional advancement of socially and educationally backward and underprivileged community from rural areas. The fifth objective says that the university needs to create an opportunity for appropriate academic and professional education for women. Goa’s only state university was also expected to promote interest in physical efficiency and excellence in sports and social service among youth of the state of Goa. The last short objective emphasised the need to provide higher education, extension and research facilities in Latin studies, mining and marine sciences.
Now the question is whether the state legislature has done any independent performance audit of progress on implementation of all these objectives under section 4? One could assess the performance faculty wise and department wise. Whenever I attempted to raise this issue I was reminded that ‘we need to think of the nation first’. Is the state of Goa not a part of India? Is serving the state not a part of national agenda especially when the mandate of every state funded employee is clearly derived from the objects of the act?
Goa University was meant to be a special purpose vehicle for state’ human resource development, educational advancement and scientific and technological progress. We need to see whether these objectives also get upgraded when the present status of the university gets upgraded as a ‘central university’. And if these objectives are to be totally sacrificed or diluted as expected in central statutes – then Goa has everything to lose. The original objective of neoliberated colonial state, deprived of higher educational facilities to take education and knowledge from classes to the masses would remain unfulfilled.
But the loss would be discovered only after five to seven years – the normal public awakening and response period in Goa. More than a thousand students are seeking their degrees every year through educational merchants in Goa through unauthorised private correspondence and tutorial colleges, which have mushroomed in big towns. This is the basic reason why students who can very well afford higher education are reluctant to take admissions to post graduate departments and affiliated colleges. The government needs to invoke and proactively use section 6 of the Goa University Act that gives powers to specify the jurisdiction to ban this business. Naturally all these students would be compelled to line up for admissions to the PG departments.