Education and educational institutes are not what they used to be. Recent news coming from the field of academics is anything but good. Plagiarism, scams and caste affiliations seems to be the emerging trend at many reputed universities. The latest news that has rocked the nation comes from the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha. The dismissal of Mr Anil Chamadia has been declared as another act of high-handedness on the part of the university vice-chancellor Mr Vibhuti Narayan Rai. Many believe that his dismissal is illegal and not in accordance to the rules that govern the appointments and dismissals in the university. It is being further alleged that Mr Anil Chamadia has been discriminated against because he is a Dalit. Mr Vibhuti Narayan Rai,on his part,has dismissed such allegations and has termed Mr Anil Chamadia's appointment to the post of professor as a "mistake". The whole issue,however,raises some vital questions. The appointment of a professor in an educational institute is not a trivial matter. If indeed such a "mistake" happened ,can Mr Rai wash his hands off the matter in such an irresponsible manner. If the appointment of Mr Chamadia was indeed a "mistake",it calls for Mr Rai's dismissal as well. Was it not the chancellor's responsibility to see that all appointments in the university be given to people who really deserve it? Mr Anil Chamadia has clearly stated that his appointment to the post has been done according to the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission. If that is true, what happened all of a sudden that made his appointment a "mistake". If the appointment according to the guidelines was really a mistake, what about the other appointments that were done at that time and according to the very guidelines? Were they shown the door too?
In another instance, Banaras Hindu University has selected a scam-accused to be the head of its engineering wing,reportedly on the basis of caste affiliation. Mr K.P. Singh, the new director of IT-BHU had been sacked as vice-chancellor of Veer Bahadur Purvanchal University in 2007 when a large-scale scam broke out over that year's pre-medical exam that was conducted under him. He was held guilty of mismanagement by an inquiry team and it was established that deserving candidates were denied selection because of marking and assessment errors. His "inglorious" act led to the suicide of many affected students. But the vice-chancellor of IT-BHU, Mr D.P. Singh maintains that all norms were followed in his selection and that he had not recommended K.P. Singh to the executive council on the basis of his "caste". It is interesting to note that though BHU picks the head of its institutes on the basis of seniority, this was not done in this case. D.P. Singh contends this by saying that the senior-most after the out-going IT-BHU director only had a few months before his retirement and that his request for extension was not approved as it went against the university statutes. It is alleged that K.P. Singh was selected because both he and D.P. Singh are 'Thakurs' and so are 6 out of 10 members of the executive council. It is quite sad to see that a scam-accused ,who is allegedly behind the death of so many deserving students, has been awarded such a prestigious post in such a reputed university. BHU vice-chancellor's contention that Allahabad High Court has dismissed the FIR against K.P. Singh was rejected by senior state officials who claimed that the court had only stayed disciplinary proceedings against him during the course of hearing.
Not to be left behind is another scam-accused in the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Anil Kumar Rai. His appointment in the university is itself a highly controversial issue. He allegedly joined the university in Wardha while he was on a leave from the Purvanchal University and he did it in full knowledge of the vice-chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University Mr Vibhuti Narayan Rai. He has many scams to his credit including that of plagiarism, inappropriate appointment of a project fellow in the university and that of fraud. He is even said to be behind the dismissal of Anil Chamadia.
Scams in educational institutes is nothing new. But it is especially sad to see such developments in these places because the future of students are at stake. While everyone may not agree with these views, it cannot be denied that tainted people should not be given the responsibility of building the country's future. Proper investigation needs to be done in all the cases to keep education taint free.
