Ritanjali Hastir/Shimla
On one hand where the state government is thrusting upon maintaining the quality of education by conducting online classes (whether by government or private institutes),to save the future of students; at the same time in sharp contrast stands Bhara University, Waknaghat, Solan contradicting the very mission of the government to provide quality education to the students.
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The University stands shrouded in controversy, where students are feeling cheated along with the staff members. Students wrote to CM Jai Ram Thakur to intervene and help them save their future which is being sacrificed at the altar of the university’s management and teaching staff members’ internal fight. Teachers have not been paid their due salaries from the past eight months hence they decided to withdraw their services till their dues were cleared.
University management already declared holidays while the staff agitated in February and stopped taking classes. To add the woes of students, COVID-19 pandemic made matter worse as in spite of University Grant Commission urging the university to conduct online classes, through various letters has been continuously ignored.
Students have approached management number of times to conduct classes and terminal examination but their efforts failed to bear any fruits. Teachers are willing to resume teaching as soon their salaries are paid but the management claims to be out of funds in spite of regular new admissions in the university.
Making Himachal an educational hub has always been an ambitious project of all the governments in the state and for materializing the same, large piece of land was allotted to various private universities with hope to raise the standard of education at affordable prices.
However, when it comes to monitoring their functioning, the government is often found to be on a back foot. A few months back a private university was accused of selling fake degrees and now Bahara is playing with the future of the students.
The government gave these universities an opportunity to grow but without any or little interference, they made them business ventures where institutes vulture on students and often exploit the staff. Reports are often read about staff being paid less than the mention in salary slips but still the owners continue occupying huge chunks of land as their fixed assets.
