The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Depoliticise campus: Khajapeer

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Karnataka

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Depoliticise campus: Khajapeer

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Higher education in India is suffering due to various reasons, according to M. Khajapeer, former Vice-Chancellor of Karnatak University, Dharwad.

Mr Khajapeer was speaking at the inauguration of the third national-level workshop for college principals organised by the University Grants Commission-Academic Staff College, Bangalore University, here on Wednesday.

Prof. Khajapeer said that with the affiliation system, many universities had become examining bodies with no research or development activities. “India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are the only countries to have the affiliation system, which has been handed down to us by the British. A university should have just 100 affiliated colleges that are situated within 10 km radius from it. Quality will emerge only if the number of affiliated colleges is low,” he said.

He said the universities and managements should be depoliticised. University campuses should not be communally divided. “Caste politics should be done away with. Learning and contribution to society should take precedence,” he said.

Prof. Khajapeer said while commercialisation of education should be done away with, private participation should be allowed with certain controls. He called upon the principals and teachers to be committed and create a system conducive to fostering quality. “Students should be encouraged to ask questions. Principals, who are mega role models, should function as leaders of the institutions,” he said.

B. Sheshadri, former professor of Economics, Kannada University, Hampi; Sanjay Vir Singh, Registrar, Bangalore University; P. Sivagnana Murthy, Director of UGC-Academic Staff College; and A.S. Vaidya, Reader, UGC-Academic Staff College, spoke.

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