| PATNA: State education minister P K Shahi on Sunday regretted that two-and-a-half years of his office were lost in resolving the controversies related to appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs), but expressed hope that the state of higher education would improve in the state in the coming days. "With formation of search committees to appoint new VCs in the offing, many maladies ailing the varsities would be taken care of," he said.
Speaking at the concluding session of the two-day conference on "Higher education: Exploring new trends" at Raj Bhavan here, Shahi spoke in the same vein as CM Nitish Kumar at the inaugural function of the same event on Saturday when he had expressed unhappiness over the state of old universities of Bihar.
He said he felt ashamed at the condition of Patna University (PU) buildings. The university had produced many illustrious alumni. "However, today when I look at B N College, Patna Science College or the hostels of the university, all are in a poor shape. The autonomy granted to the varsities should not be confused with autocracy," he said.
The minister said the findings of the conference would be incorporated in the future road map of the education sector. "The chancellor and governor's secretariat could decide what initiatives the state government could take in future," he said adding, "The chancellor, VCs, pro-VCs, teaching and non-teaching staff should work in tandem with the state government to improve the situation."
According to him, Bihar had one of the lowest number of universities in the country. "We need many more higher educational institutions to stop migration of students," said Shahi, adding that reviving the education sector would lead the state to prosperity.
The event witnessed a galaxy of academics deliberate on several aspects of higher education. Altogether six business sessions were held during the conference. V S Prasad, Uday Salunkhe, V V Khole, B P Sable, B Venkatesh Kumar and Sanjay Mishra were the main speaker at one of the sessions each.
Also present on the dais were former PU VC Jagannath Thakur and special secretary, education department, H R Srinivasa. Principal secretary, education, Amarjeet Sinha, principal secretary to governor Sudhir Rakesh, VCs of several universities of the state, principals, educationists and academics were also present on the occasion. |