State HEIs' fatal attraction for foreign universities comes under question

Hyderabad: Are teachers in the State universities lacking the necessary academic prowess to create the intellectual capital for meeting needs of the States and the country? Should the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) run by taxpayers' money be called for accountability and transparency? Is it that successive State governments have no confidence in the university teachers and look for something imported asmore credible?

These questions are increasingly coming to the fore as universities and HEIs and some All-India Service (AIS) officials are hankering for foreign tie-ups for curriculum development, skill development and a host of other things related to education. What is more intriguing is that the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) entered into and projects taken up in collaboration are not placed on the university and other HEI entities' websites.

For the first question, for example, under the banner of a new academic facade called 'Critical Race Theory' (CRT) funded and incubated at the Harvard University, is coming in handy to attack the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) as "casteist portals". Under the grab of academic scholarship, a bunch of research scholars and their ilk are using the CRT to target IITs and other technocrat NRIs contributing to the US society and economy being casteist.

Adding, another layer of equating the caste with race theory, which is unique to Europe and the US, now, is being applied to target IITs. Now the question is, does the State government fund training of students of underprivileged and backward sections with taxpayers' for Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) amounts to preparing them to send to casteist and racist-ridden portals of higher education?

Speaking to The Hans India, prominent educationist Prof Haragopal asked if IITs have no quality and how the American companies are directly recruiting them. Further, the US universities finding economic constraints are trying to attract more Indian students and the IITs might be standing as an impediment. It might be a conspiracy to delegitimise the intellectual prowess of the premier IIITs, he added.

Secondly, what is the rationale behind the HIEs importing and incorporating CRT in the educational curriculum without evaluating and questioning?

Prof Haragopal points out that our professors don't think creating intellectual capital and developing curricula to the needs of the country. Earlier "we had developed curriculum on Human Rights in Kakaitya University. It was not copied from Harvard or any other foreign varsity. Instead, what we had developed is based on Indian context," he added. Harvard University has a different history and needs. Students come to that university from across the globe. It caters to global needs. But, Indian universities should be allowed to enjoy their autonomy to create intellectual capital to meet Indian needs, he said.

Another interesting angle is that the State government recently announced to development KondgattuAnjyaneya Swamy temple with an outlay of Rs 100 crore. But several academicians could not muster the courage to object to the racist slurs by famous intellectuals from Europe, the UK and the US. One of them who opined equating such worship makes one (Indians) "semi-civilised" and "semi-barbarian".

Lastly, of late several AIS officers are jumping into the education arena, meddling too much in higher education issues and research and development is raising eyebrows.

On this Prof Haragopal said, earlier some AIS officials like Shankaran were scholars parexcellence. But, "these days undergraduate passouts in technological streams are qualifying in the IAS exam. What knowledge do they have to deal with higher education? They mistake power is knowledge," he pointed out.