The lost voice of the Indian universities - article in the Hindu By mahesh Gopalan

Mahesh Gopalan in his article, “The lost voice of the Indian universities “(17. 7. 20) in The Hindu has articulated the list of all the events that had led to the disappearance of academic independence and down fall in the quality of higher education in India. The, “ bureaucratic centralisation” efforts in the higher education sector has resulted in choking and  strangulation of voices of the educationalists, teachers parents and the students in higher education affairs . The  Indian universities currently are  reduced the position of voiceless and mindless  bodies .The top down approach in academic matters and the helpless situation of university bodies has reduced them t to  serve the agenda of the central government for this sector exercised ruthlessly through bureaucrats. These damages have led to the loss of academic freedom of the universities even in matters of curriculum framing, freedom of expression of the university administrators, teachers and the students and free thinking atmosphere in the universities. The best example is the high level interference   in resent past in the affairs of an eminent university i.e., JNU. The free thinking and freedom of expression activities of their students and the teachers were criminalised and these events created an atmosphere of fear. How can Indian universities get global ranking in such atmosphere? The New education policy framework is the best example of how the voices of   stake holders in the higher sector were ignored and the non academics dominated in the decision making process related to higher education. The life blood of higher quality education and research activities is the prevalence “of fertile intellectual spaces” and not suppressing academic freedom.