MANGALORE: Many government degree colleges (or government first grade colleges) in the State have failed to get a good ranking by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) even after many years of their existence.

The Government is responsible for the improvement of infrastructure and quality and recruitment of teachers in these colleges. As per the statistics available with NAAC, of the 97 government degree colleges that had got NAAC accreditation and certificate, 48 had got below "B" grade ranking.

To get a "B" grade, a college has to get from 70 per cent to 75 per cent score. If the score is between 65 per cent and 70 per cent, a college is given "C double plus" grade, if the score is from 60 per cent to 65 per cent it will get "C plus" grade and if the score is between 55 per cent and 60 per cent such colleges will get "C" grade. The highest NAAC rating given to good colleges is `A double plus'.

Lack of basic facilities like classrooms, library, toilets, books and laboratory is common to many government degree colleges in the State. NAAC sources told The Hindu that there were very few permanent teachers and these colleges relied on guest (temporary) teachers.

This being the situation, authorities in the Federation of University and College Teachers' Associations in Karnataka have questioned the accountability of the Government to improve the quality of higher education in its "own colleges".

Notice issued

The Department of Collegiate Education recently issued a show cause notice to 36 government-aided private degree colleges in the State asking them why the department should not recommend to the Government to withhold, withdraw or reduce grants to them for failing to get "B" grade certificate of assessment and accreditation from NAAC. Federation president A. M. Narahari told The Hindu that there were 282 NAAC accredited government-aided private colleges in the State. Of them, only 36 got below "B" grade. It meant that government aided private colleges were doing better than government colleges. The grant-in-aid to a private college is given in terms of teachers' salary. While assessing a college for NAAC accreditation, factors like management, university, students, parents, old students and infrastructure counts.

Stand questioned

Such being the situation, why should the Government shift the onus only on teachers of 36 government aided colleges for lack of performance?, he asked. Prof. Narahari wanted to know what action the Government would take to improve its own colleges that had got below "B" grade.

He said there was a need to change provisions in the Karnataka State Education Act which linked salary grants with NAAC grading and infrastructure in colleges. When the Government was not capable of improving infrastructure of its own colleges, the aided private colleges deserve some more time to improve their standards.

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