*Professors await implementation of new education policy
Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Feb 10: The professors working in the Social Science faculty of Kashmir University are facing discrimination for the last ten years because of the selective reforms leading to “disproportionate share” to science faculty in decision making in the varsity.
The Varsity has not implemented the new education policy which would have ended the discriminatory approach of the university towards the senior professors. “The new education policy suggests that the faculties should be small so that they can interact with the community. We can only achieve it with the reconfiguring of the faculty,” a senior professor in the faculty told Excelsior.
In 2007, the university decided to re-configure the two big faculties with an aim to improve their functioning. Subsequently, the science faculty was divided into four smaller faculties and the professors expected the same for the social science faculty. However, the social science faculty was never reformed despite having 14-departments under its umbrella.
“The social sciences faculty was not restructured and because of it, fourteen departments are running under one umbrella. Ironically, junior professors in sciences have been privileged who rise quickly in their career and exercise greater power in the university system,” he said.
In the last week of January, professors put the matter in front of the Dean’s Committee wherein most of the people supported it. “Except one, everyone else supported it. It is not understandable how they sidelined the rest of the members and allowed one person, who is nearing his retirement, to sabotage it,” a professor said. The committee, he added, gave him a weeks’ time for further consultation, but the Dean has not shown up till now.
Both middle rung and senior professors alleged that the concerned Dean was deliberately delaying the process due to personal interests and urged the university to form an expert committee to look into the matter. “He is not convening the meeting. He should be held accountable. I do not know what is stopping university to adopt a procedure which they followed during re-configuration of science faculty,” a senior professor said.
Pertinently, some departments like music and fine arts and some research centers have terribly suffered because of this lopsided policy. A case in point, Music and Fine arts course was introduced in the university where it was supposed to conduct Masters Courses, but that did not happen. “Even after remaining part of KU music and fine art is without Principal and HoD. There is no MA or Ph.D. course, forcing students to go to other universities,” said another professor.
General Secretary Kashmir University Teachers Association (KUTA), Javid Ahmad, said the reforms are necessary as there is an imbalance in the decision making in the Deans’ committee. “Highest decision body is the committee of Deans and which has a tilt towards science because more Deans are from science faculty. So, the peculiarities in social science don’t come on board,” he said.
He said it also hampers the implementation of the new education policy. “The new education policy focuses on multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary connectivity between the departments and curriculum. How can that be achieved within the present system?” he asked.
Dean Academic Affairs, Akbar Masoodi told Excelsior that they have received the proposal and asked the faculty to develop internal consensus before moving to the next stage. “The matter was referred to the Dean’s committee who has asked the concerned HoDs to discuss it within the faculty,” he said.
Asked about the non-compliance of the concerned Dean of the Faculty, he said: “We are with the reforms. We will issue a notification if the dean is deliberately delaying the matter.”
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