The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Corruption is root cause of ills in education system”

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Saturday, Oct 10, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Corruption is root cause of ills in education system”

Special Correspondent

Interactive session on reports on higher education

CHENNAI: “There is a price [tag] for a Vice-Chancellor. You pay [Rs.] 20 crore, 10 crore to become one.” In a blunt denunciation of the ills of higher education on Friday, M. Anandakrishnan, member of the Yash Pal Committee, pinpointed rampant corruption as among the root causes.

He was participating in an interactive session on the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yash Pal Committee’s reports on higher education organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry. There is a whole line of “touts” ready to wangle appointments as professors or syndicate members at universities around the country, according to Dr. Anandakrishnan, who is also chairman of the board of governors of IIT-Kanpur.

“All the way from the Raj Bhavans to the State secretariats, there are people collecting money,” he said, in an indictment of political interference. The Yash Pal Committee proposed norms that would make it harder to appoint relatives of Ministers as Vice-Chancellors, he added.

He did not spare private universities either, saying that the concept of deemed universities had been completely abused, and condemning the capitation fee regime. “If you want to produce Maoists and naxalites, the quickest method is to increase capitation fees, increase the number of institutions charging capitation fees,” he said, adding that the principle of social justice was overthrown in most private educational institutions.

The corruption within government regulatory agencies has also added to the capitation fee menace, according to G. Viswanathan, Chancellor of VIT University.

While Dr. Anandakrishnan pointed out that MD seats could be bought for Rs.1.5 crore in some parts of the country, Dr. Viswanathan said such a state was inevitable when the Medical Council of India approved only two MD seats in an institution, and then demanded the capitation fees charged for one seat.

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