oppn parties The Rot In NAAC Needs To Be Addressed Fast

News Snippets

  • Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, referring to a spate of FIRs for putting up posters in Delhi which said "Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao", said that even the British did not act in such manner
  • The 2023-24 Appropriation BIll, which allows the government to spend Rs 45 lakh crore in the fiscal, was passed by Lok Sabha in 9 minutes without any discussion
  • Sources say that Amritpal Singh fled to Haryana and may now be in Uttarakhand
  • Experts say that Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament will kick in immediately as the conviction has not been stayed
  • Tatas to invest $2bn in super app Tata Neu
  • Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said that inflation will drop as commodity and food prices have fallen
  • Government will define quality norms to ensure better 5G service
  • Stocks tumble again on Thursday after two sessions of recovery: Sensex loses 289 points to 57925 and Nifty goes down by 75 points to 17076
  • Amicus curiae and senior advocate K V Vishwanathan has told the Supreme Court that the changes made in law and three extensions given to the present director of Enforcement Directorate are illegal and will imperil the integrity of the agency
  • Supreme Court says it cannot judicially direct the government to acquire land or buildings near the court for advocates' chambers
  • ISSF Cup shooting: Indian pair of Rhythm Sangwan and Varun Tomar win silver in 10m sir rifle mixed team event
  • WPL: UP Warriorz take on Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator today. The winner will play Delhi Capitals in the finals
  • World Boxing: Four Indians - Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas, Lovelina Borgohain and Saweety Boora - enter the frinals in their respective category
  • Bombay HC imposes costs and dismisses a petition by a housing society that sought to have a community-wise cap on residents
  • Delhi Police files 159 FIRs for defacement of public property and 49 for posters saying 'Modi Hatao Desh Bachao'
Rahul Gandhi disqualified from Parliament, Wayanad Lok Sabha seat declared vacant
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The Rot In NAAC Needs To Be Addressed Fast

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-03-10 07:45:15

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an independent body under the University Grants Commission (UGC). It is tasked with assessing institutions of higher education on various parameters for the quality of education they impart and accredit them by awarding grades. Students go by the NAAC accreditation to judge a college or university before taking admission as it is meant to assure them about the quality of education imparted in that college or university. But the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has now pulled up NAAC for having 'discrepancies' in the processes it uses to assess the institutions and has charged the body with awarding points 'arbitrarily'. NAAC, on its part, has not agreed to the CAG assessment and has issued a note which says that its processes were "robust, transparent, ICT-driven and automated" and its assessments were "done transparently and professionally". But CAG has cited several instances where the grades awarded by peer team members were not in line with the submission made by the colleges and this happened in 29% cases or in 41 out of 133 cases checked by CAG. It has also found that points were awarded for facilities that did not exist in some institutions.

The adverse remarks by CAG come close on heels of the resignation of Bhushan Patwardhan, the executive committee chairperson of NAAC. Patwardhan resigned to "safeguard the sanctity" of the post. He was appointed just a year earlier and had since then flagged many irregularities in the functioning of the body. He had also written to the UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar in February pointing out that some institutions were getting "questionable grades" due to "vested interests and malpractices". Reports had earlier suggested that some peer teams had been bribed by some institutions to get better grades. Since the matter is about the quality of education, the UGC must act and set the house in order otherwise there will be nothing left of the NAAC motto of excellence, credibility and relevance.