Politicising Chancellor Posts By State Govts Unfortunate, Says Union Education Minister

Bhubaneswar: Politicising the Chancellor posts of state-run universities is unfortunate and the state governments should allow the Governors to function as Chancellors, said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday.

Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of inauguration of three new buildings in the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Pradhan said since stakeholders in education are multi-dimensional, everybody should be involved.

Considering this, the arrangement was made that President of India should function as Chancellor or Visitor for national institutions and the Governor of states should function as Chancellor of state universities, he said adding that it has proved to be a “perfect” and “well-tested” arrangement.

“Local governments should also adhere to that. They want to create some political issues, it is unfortunate,” a national news agency quoted him as saying in response to West Bengal replacing the Governor with Chief Minister as Chancellor of state-run universities and the expectation that Telangana may also follow suit.

On some states not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), Pradhan wondered what was their objection. “Teaching, learning method, in the primary level, should be in the local language. Are they opposing the local language pedagogy system in their state? It is up to them to decide,” he said.

Stating that the NEP was brought out after wide consultations, he said, “We want to prepare our students in the global marketplace. NEP is a document of 21st century. There may be some communication gap. I am ready to discuss with everybody.”