State govts should adhere to system of Governor functioning as chancellor of universities: Dharmendra Pradhan

HYDERABAD: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said state governments should adhere to the practice of Governor functioning as Chancellor of state universities as it is a "well tested arrangement". "Our point of view is when this arrangement has been started, education is such a topic, stakeholders are very multi-dimensional, everybody should be involved. So, from the day to day administrative point, day-to-day political..., it should be free from all pulls and pressures," he told reporters here.

The arrangement is that President of India should function as Chancellor or Visitor for national institutions and the Governor should function as Chancellor for respective state universities and it is a "perfect" and "well-tested arrangement", he said. "So, local governments should also adhere to that. They want to create some political issues, it is unfortunate," he said. He was asked about West Bengal replacing the Governor with Chief Minister as Chancellor of state-run universities and the expectation that Telangana may also follow suit.

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Pradhan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event after inaugurating three new buildings in the University of Hyderabad (UoH). Asked about some states not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP), he said the Centre, in a federal structure, is expecting everybody to cooperate on the implementation of NEP as it was brought out after wide consultations. Observing that the NEP policy document talks about increasing the employability of students, he asked as to what is the objection of any government.

"Teaching, learning method, in the primary level, should be in the local language. Are they opposing the local language pedagogy system in their state? It is up to them to decide," he said. "We want to prepare our students in the global marketplace. NEP is a document of 21st century. There may be some communication gap. I am ready to discuss with everybody," he said. He said he expected, sooner or later, everybody will come around to the view of creating a new knowledge-based society in the country whose responsibility is not only for the country but from the global point of view.

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Pradhan inaugurated the Centre for Digital Learning and Training Resources, School of Physics and the School of Engineering Science and Technology at the UoH. Speaking at an event after the inauguration, he said linkages between academia, policy makers and industry can create global models that will lead to greater benefit to society.