Javed Mughal
Higher Education Depart-ment is a big establishment with bigger spectrum of problems having a handful of people at the helm of affairs to steer it along. At the same time the lack of co-ordination from top to bottom was so big a crisis till yesterday that it had left this department more or less functionally fragmented. But now the affairs have improved much more at the hands of the concerned authorities. For the first time during the eighteen years of my service I found that apart from exculpating the higher education system from the tentacles of myriad shortcomings and lacuna, the Educational Magazines highlighting the achievements of the Colleges to further encourage them on the path of betterment and the International Research Journals in various languages stand launched for exploring the research aptitude of the college faculty. Another positive step that has been taken by the department of Higher Education is to have provided a broad based platform to all the College teachers to put forth their views and opinions in matters related to the academic excellence. Such steps are most likely to bring about a very formative change in the system of Higher Education as a whole. The initiative to invite the total participation of the College faculty in the process of revolutionizing the educational domain in the state will prove highly fruitful in the time to come. The colleges, especially on the outskirts of Jammu and Kashmir till the recent past simply smoldered on the pyre of hydra-headed shortcomings like inadequate infra-structure and scarcity of staff being the greatest concern for them which now stand addressed to the great extent. The understaffed Colleges stand equipped with the permanent staff, the labs paraphernalia has been provided to erstwhile ailing Colleges and new life has been whiffed into total academic structure of the higher education at the moment. For the first the Mufassil Colleges have heaved a sigh of relief. A lot has been done towards the betterment of the suburban Colleges but more is yet to be done for the desirable change in these institutions.
The College teachers are supposed to equip themselves with the latest trends in education and information about the global goings-on. It is possible only by participating in the seminars, workshops and various other informative projects and programmes organized in Universities wherein a teacher from the suburban Colleges can not take part because of the nonchalant and non-cooperative attitude of the Principals which leaves the teachers in a position to neither teach satisfactorily nor improve his academic get-up. He does not have time to contribute his papers for the national and international journals due to his total attention involved in how to manage the classes, poor research material in the libraries and the required atmosphere available in the Colleges. The teachers working in the city colleges have an edge on those working in the suburban colleges in matters of certain avenues for the career advancement. A teacher from Jammu College can very easily manage to attend a conference, workshop or any other event beneficial for the professional improvement whereas a teacher from distant and far-flung colleges is either not permitted for the same or even if the Principal is kind enough to allow him, he will have to manage time and think of his lodging/ boarding etc. and in view of many such reasons drops the idea of going for such courses. If a comparative analysis is conducted of the teachers working in City and the far-flung colleges, it will be surprising to know that most of even senior teachers of the rural colleges have not yet completed their required number of GOCs/ Refresher Courses and hence they have not been placed in the pay scale which was due to them long back. This is the professional torture on them. The Department is supplicated to get at the grass-root level and think of it seriously. The people clinging to the city colleges for years together have actually created such a condemnable situation in our department. We have examples of the teachers who got first posted and last retired in the city colleges without even the slightest disturbance. This cult has spread around a climate of routine negligence and a psychological aversion to the spirit of working hard. To remove such disparities and rationalize the transfer policy, the post of Director was created but unfortunately the affairs are still the same with no constructive change at all. To maintain egalitarianism between the privileged and the under-privileged college communities, Govt. is supplicated to evolve and uphold the following steps.
The Higher Education Department should make it mandatory for senior most colleges like Govt. PG College Rajouri and Govt. Degree college Poonch in Pir Panjal region area and GDC Badharwah or GDC Doda in Chenab valley belt to hold at least one national and one international conference/ Seminar in a year so that the teachers who are normally deprived of this opportunity due to geographical, topical or typical reasons, can have an opportunity to benefit for career advancement. On similar pattern it should be operated in Kashmir valley also as per its topographical demand.
The senior-most colleges of these areas should be authorized and funded to launch a Regional Research Journal wherein the college teachers of these difficult areas can get their papers published and those publications should have a weight-age and recognition at par with the national and international publications at our departmental levels in regard to the placements and promotions. This will be a positive step to bring the far-flung colleges shoulder to shoulder with the city colleges. The potential level of suburban colleges is in no way less than that of city colleges; the difference lies in opportunities and attractions.
The University of Jammu may be directed to conduct the parallel General Orientation Courses and Refresher Courses in PG College Rajouri, and GDC Doda being the central stations of the two hilly regions every year so that the teachers who can not afford time to leave for Jammu University in view of the work load can benefit from these career advancement programmes.
The University of Jammu should also be impressed upon to establish the separate Evaluation Centers in PG College Rajouri, GDC Poonch and GDC Doda (if not possible in all colleges) extending evaluation opportunity to these far-flung areas. It shall lighten the burden of the Universirty, ensure fool proof evaluation and ensure the time declaration of results. The involvement of contractual teachers quite raw in evaluation-process must be discouraged as is prevalent in Jammu University at the moment.
UGC impresses upon all the college teachers to go for Ph.Ds and other research works. But the great impediment on its way is the formal permission from the Department concerned which consumes months together if followed properly and if it is not followed by the teacher, it never wets; rather till yesterday it used to be thrown in the dustbin. To facilitate the research work for the college teachers the Govt. should issue a one-time Research Permission Circular (RPC) to all the colleges so that without wasting the time of the students, his own energy in the corridors of Secretariat, a teacher can initiate his research work.
Apart from it there should be two Advisory Committees constituted from the city and the Mufassil Colleges from Jammu and Kashmir Division respectively. These committees should be directed to assist worthy Principal Secretary Higher Education to work satisfactorily and accomplish the wonderful initiatives undertaken by him regarding the enhancement of all over academic standard of the Colleges.
Instead of Director of Colleges two posts of Stationary Joint Director-one from the Valley and another from the Jammu Division should be created to facilitate the projection and resolution of the issues faced by the colleges. There should be fixed tenure of the Joint Directors and the candidate should be selected on rotation basis- from Jammu and the Kashmir valley. I am sure that these measures will work a lot in rehabilitating the Department of Higher Education in a desirable.
Transfer Policy must be rationalized and the transfer should be made as per the fixed length of stay or tenure at one place of posting and they should not be subordinated to the political influence. Everyone from far flung colleges should be given a chance to serve in the City Colleges and vice versa. The teachers having more than 5 years of stay in one College should be dislocated since the abnormally long stay at one place leaves a question mark on the image of the department.
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