Yesterday, HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar, released the names of the six institutes which have been granted the status of institutes of eminence by the government of India. Of the six selected institutes, 3 are from the public sector and 3 from the private. However, Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has a completely different outlook on the matter and said ‘the exercise in creating a separate list of Eminent Institutions is geared towards promoting a special economic zone for Higher Education brands that may pursue commercial aims with impunity and without any public accountability’.
The government had granted "Institutions of Eminence" (IoEs) status to IIT-Delhi, IIT-Bombay and the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in the public sector, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, BITS Pilani and Jio Institute by Reliance Foundation in the private sector.
"The DUTA has consistently opposed the Government's obsession with Rankings as the Quality parameters used for ranking Higher Educational Institutions tend to ignore notions of Equity, Access and Public Accountability while emphasizing on a narrow and arbitrary notion of Excellence," the teacher’s body said in a statement.
"These Eminent Institutions feature IITs wherein women's access is limited to 14% of the total students' strength. Obviously, the diversity of students' profile and Equity is not a matter of concern, here," it added.
DUTA also criticized the way in which some of the institutes from private sector were selected by the government.
Tags: Institutes Of Eminence
Hrd Ministry
Prakash Javadekar
Duta
