There is something unseemly about the sight of professors at one of Indias best-known institutions going on a hunger strike.
Written by The Indian Express
3 min read
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There is something unseemly about the sight of professors at one of Indias best-known institutions going on a hunger strike. Here is a brand synonymous with the technical skills associated with a resurgent India. Here is an institution with alumni in boardrooms across the world,eager to give back to their alma mater. Here is an engineering college whose students have the pick of global jobs and command salaries that awe,even in these recession-hit days. But instead of leveraging all of this,what have you? Teachers at the Indian Institutes of Technology having to grovel before the human resource development ministry for better salaries and incentives.
Indias approach to higher education has been a combination of Stalinist centralisation and the belief that one size should fit all. This would make some sense if the size was of the IITs or IIMs world-class institutions that our other universities could learn from. But the governments chosen model has been the lowest common denominator regulations that reduce all colleges to the grubby decay of our very worst. The argument that institutions must surrender some of their autonomy in return for government financing makes sense. But the IITs and IIMs can easily raise the cash to improve infrastructure and attract teaching talent. Should not tax payers money be spent on those who really need it?
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There is yet another justification for increasing pay at the IITs. They have an enviable reputation for producing bright young graduates ready for the toughest and most varied assignments. They are less likely to retain researchers and academics,the kind of skills that only committed high-quality,and equally appreciated,faculty can guarantee. For the IITs to change from a quality technical institute to a quality research one requires flexibility in hiring and putting incentive structures in place. No matter how benevolent the rules from New Delhi may seem,they cannot factor in the needs of an institution more than that institution itself can. The performance-linked bonus that IIT directors have proposed is precisely such an idea. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal brings much needed energy to his ministry. From making board
examinations optional to persevering with the Right to Education Act,he has so far made the right noises. He could well negotiate his way out of the IIT impasse by compromising on some specific demands,but that would be ignoring the systemic problems that caused the dispute,problems of institutional autonomy. It is there that reform should begin.
