Mita Mukherjee
Nearly 1000 out of 1514 colleges and 38 of 58 universities in Bengal do not have NAAC accreditation, Union minister of state Sukanta Majumdar said in the Parliament raising questions about the role of the state government in promoting higher education in the state.
The minister revealed only 514 colleges and 20 university have the NAAC accreditation. He said this answering a question in Rajya Sabha asked by BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya.
“This raises serious concerns about academic quality, funding & student futures,” the minister later said on his X handle. NAAC accreditation ensures excellence and academic credibility, helps institutions secure funding and grants, improves students’ opportunities and placements and without the accreditation thousand of students are at disadvantage, the minister said.
Lack of NAAC accreditation is a ” shocking failure of governance” and the minister wondered why the Trinamool Congress is failing students and institutions despite the Centre’s support.
He said the ministry of education has taken a number of steps to enable institutions to obtain NAAC accrediration. The Centre has waived fees for government colleges, conducted workshops to help institutions get accreditated and a high-level reform committee to improve education standards.” So why is Mamata Banerjee’s govt still failing to act?, the minister asked.
Demanding immediate action to “fix the mess”, Majumdar said, ” Students deserve quality education, better infrastructure & global opportunities…….The TMC govt’s negligence is running the future of millions of students in WB”.
In NAAC accreditation, institutions are assessed in parameters like teaching-learning, evaluation, curricular aspects, research and innovation, student support and progression, leadership and management, governance and institutional best practices.
The University Grants Commission had made it mandatory for all higher education institutions to get NAAC accreditation in 2000.
Bengal had been lagging behind many other states since the Left rule when the then state government hardly bothered to seek the NAAC rating because it perceived the inspection system of NAAC as an interference of the Centre. The trend among institutions in Bengal ton ot get the accreditation continued even after the Trinamool Congress government came to power in 2011 . But the inclination among institutions to get the accreditation picked up after 2017, an official of state higher education department said.
