Historian Romila Thapar on Wednesday said that there is a major attack on those universities that are known for their excellent teaching of social sciences as a social scientist is that person who can give a rational, thought-about analysis about society that we are living in, and that is something politicians are not anxious to hear about.
Institutions attacked
Giving examples of how Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jadavpur University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Hyderabad Central University are being targeted, she said, “For many political parties, having a thinking, educated citizenry is a threat as they rather deal with citizens who are not asking difficult questions or analysing problems that society faces.”
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Prof. Thapar was speaking as a jury member of a people’s tribunal on “Attack on Educational Institutions” being organised by the People’s Commission on Shrinking Democratic Spaces.
Issues discussed
The three-day event will have depositions from 120 students and teachers from 16 States before a tribunal that will release its interim findings on the last day.
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Sessions on the first day included testimonies on “privatisation and globalisation of education”, “distortion of history, syllabus and saffronisation of education” and a session on “student union existence and elections in institutions”.
In the plenary session, former Delhi University professor Krishna Kumar spoke on how some of the best minds are not taking up teaching as a career because of the rise of ad-hocism that leads to no job security and hence, the quality of educators is going down as it is now hiring only “contractual workers”.
He added that the institutional decay in education is evident as several incidents over the past few years like the “Kanhaiya Kumar incident”, “introduction of the semester system in DU” and the “suicide of Rohit Vemula ” which should have lead to the reform of the system through vociferous opposition but it was business as usual at universities.
Prof. Kumar said that it was the success of Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan that has led to many first-generation learners reaching higher education and at this time, as they enter universities, they are being told that there is no money to fund their education.
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar also speaking at the session said that education needs to become an election issue and only then will political parties assign funds and ensure that there is development in the sector.