A DOCTORATE in any subject for Rs 2 lakhs, an MPhil in languages, natural or social sciences for Rs 1 lakh, any post graduate degree for little less than Rs 50,000

, graduation in any subject guaranteed sitting at home, various diplomas and certificates on offer–who needs to join recognised regular colleges or the postgraduate departments of Goa University as fulltime students? Goa has become a glamorous paradise–a sort of ‘on shore educational haven’ for educational merchants and the government shamefully admits that it is powerless to do anything about it. In other words it is saying that it is helpless and as in the past it would permit the situation to drift further until the people were forced to agitate or there is judicial cognisance of the issue of selling degrees.
Degrees for Sale: Alarmed by the booming trade in selling higher degrees, the Tamil Nadu government came to its’ senses and put a ban on MPhil and PhD by distance education mode by all universities in Tamil Nadu. There is no such ban in Goa where these degrees are arranged under the very nose of the Directorate of Higher Education. The state government has not complied with several directives of the Supreme Court regarding private colleges and universities and study centres outside their jurisdiction. I have personally emailed some of these details to the Chief Minister. My sincere attempts to convince him to introduce and pass an act like Kerala State Higher Educational Council, 2007 have failed despite a commitment made by the Goa government to UGC since 1992. If Goa was not interested in establishing a ‘Goa State Council For Higher education’ then why were budgetary provisions made consistently till 2008? Why our educational decision makers are reluctant to adopt the successful Kerala model of regulating higher education with proper policies, instruments and mechanisms in place?
The trade of selling degrees is booming because the government has not shown any practical interest to amend and arm the Goa University Act, 1984 suitably to bar competing profit making private interests in higher education. How long does it actually take to correct the situation? Actually just one day and a single ordinance, like one based on Assam Non-Governmental Educational Institutions (regulations and management) Act, 2006. Who would look at Kerala Professional Colleges Act, 2006 or the Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006? Without such statutory instruments in place the state government can not think of regulating higher education.
Political Patronage: The self-righteous government machinery is wasting time and public funds on farces like seminars on educational estates instead of shopping for best practices of higher educational regulation and management in other states. Nobody wishes to look at the evils in the system. Every year, 5-10,000 local students are lured to purchase various degrees and diplomas. Hundreds feel cheated and then rush to the media. But there is no ‘educational offences cell’ in the police department. All universities outside Goa claiming recognition from UGC declare that they have no agents to enroll or admit students on their behalf. But still there is a boom in private correspondence and tutorial colleges in Goa which are promising higher educational nirvana in ‘shortest possible time’. This would never happen without sustained political patronage. That may explain the powerlessness and helplessness of the government. But actually it is lawlessness.
The unprecedented chaos in higher education has resulted because the government has forgotten the National Education Policy, 1986. The Goa government did not prepare a state programme of action to implement NEP after national consensus was reached in 1992.
In my considered opinion, the government led by Mr Digambar Kamat would be remembered for two major blunders–the first, unwanted resurrection of regional plan 2021 AD at the cost of sacrificing devolution of microplanning powers to local self government bodies and the second–the so called ‘integrated education policy’ when it gets bulldozed through the cabinet and the assembly within next six months. It needs to be withdrawn at this stage immediately. Does anyone remember anything about the Goa Knowledge Commission constituted in November 2005? It was supposed to prepare a vision document on Goa’s education even before anyone in the government received the more important and overarching report of National Knowledge Commission. After the new government was sworn in the Goa Knowledge Commission was conveniently forgotten. It was seen as the previous education ministers’ brainchild. This is the style of governance and public policy making in Goa. The legacy is ancient and non-party specific.
A powerful MLA could not be accommodated in the state cabinet and since he was a teacher, the then government invented a special purpose vehicle called Goa Educational Development Corporation. Do we really need such an appendage–is it more important than Council for Higher Education about which the educationists are strangely silent? How many states in India felt the need for such corporations? Perhaps every new education minister needs a new idea, a new slogan – and that’s how in July 2008 suddenly we heard about a ‘state integrated education policy’.
State Councils: How many teachers in higher education have read and debated its’ draft? Why is it totally silent on sale of degrees? Education is a continuous process–formally lasting for at least 15 years till graduation. So how a 5-year ‘policy’ would compress the temporal space? Who’s reviewed the implementation of NEP, 1986 in Goa? For strict regulation of higher education we need a statutory state council. The 1986 National Policy on Education had recognised the crucial role of higher education in national development and outlined a policy framework for the large-scale expansion and qualitative improvement of this sector. State level planning and coordination for implementation of national level policies in higher education was a felt need.
Accordingly it was suggested that state councils of higher education should be set up in each state. It was an interface for UGC to consult such councils and evolve a mechanism to monitor standards in higher education. The Programme of Action (1992) reiterated that there was no effective machinery for planning and coordination at state level as also coordination of state level programmes with those of the UGC. To bridge this gap, the programme of action envisaged setting up of State Councils of Higher Education. The UGC had already set up a committee to prepare the guidelines. The guidelines were prepared in 1998, following which state councils were set up in several states. Goa accepted the UGC policy in 1992 and slept over it–and that’s how we’ve seen a total mess in higher education today.