With college examinations on in Orissa, a wind of reforms is blowing across its higher education system. Be it conducting of exams, evaluation of papers, introduction of uniforms in colleges, radical remedies are being prescribed by stakeholders to make the system qualitatively better and more transparent.
Orissa, which was considered backward given the ratio of higher educational institutions vis-a-vis its population, saw mushrooming growth of private colleges in 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the government’s grant-in-aid policy, which almost accorded government employee status to teachers and employees of private colleges.
As many as 448 private colleges have come up in the state in the last two decades. But, while many were worth of recognition as educational institution, some became notorious due to institutionalised irregularities, like appointment of lecturers and mass copying. Realising that private colleges were soaking much of the subsidy and were becoming a burden on the state exchequer, the government decided to switch over to the system of block grants instead of grants-in-aid to teachers and staff.
Also, to improve the quality of colleges, it withdrew recognition to several colleges and debarred some from conducting examinations. As many as 14 colleges have been de-recognised till now.
To improve the quality of teaching, Orissa has strictly enforced the resolution prohibiting private tuitions by teachers. It has adhered to a policy of conducting exams and declaring the results as per the time table, facilitating students to take all-India competitive exams and entrance tests. “Orissa’s higher education system will become a role model for the entire nation in coming years”, says state higher education minister, Samir Dey, the architect of reforms in education.
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Interestingly, at a recent workshop, principals of government and private colleges supported Mr Dey’s suggestions to stop private tuitions and allow students to access to photocopies of answer sheets. “This would bring transparency in evaluation of papers and make the teachers more responsible toward the students”, says Sailabal Senapati, principal of Kamala Nehru Women’s College.
It is not just the quality of education, the government seems quite sensitive to the welfare of teachers, too. To remove stagnation among teachers, it has decided to promote senior teachers of government colleges and universities to principals and professors by effecting suitable amendments in the education service recruitment rules. The government has also decided to include teachers in private colleges, appointed between 1992-98 under the block grant scheme.
With these reforms in place, observers say the day is not far when Orissa will emerge as a vast pool of talent.
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