Previous

Part - IV

The State has consistently tried to interfere in this matter by trying to: -

• Decide how admissions are made

• Fixing fees

• Packing Boards of Governance with their willing hands

• Keeping the general subject of education in 'administered price' and 'license to operate' regime, ignoring the basic tenet of freedom to teach and the right to manage the own affairs of any organization

At the same time, the State has admittedly no resources to provide even universal primary education to all eligible children in India, not to talk of higher education.

This is a suitable occasion for the Hon. Court to lay down the parameters of the 'right to manage' for self-financing institutions, Institutions such as the IIMs which have become self-financing over a period of time, and government supported institutions where the government support is required for reasons of promoting opportunities which would otherwise not be available.

The Right to Teach

It is submitted that the right to teach, is a fundamental right, on par with the right to speech, and freedoms of expression, and the abridgement of this right is reprehensible. The right to teach, and the right to accept or reject a pupil, is enshrined in our own Vedic and Puranic literature. In the most modern American model right now, many professors have the individual right to teach as per the rights given to them to fix class sizes, accept or reject a particular student in terms of his sincerity and preparedness to attend a particular course or class taught by the teacher, etc. Why are we ignoring this basic right?

It is useful to remember that we are supporting this same right in a perverse manner by allowing certain categories of institutions to admit students of their caste, creed, community or religion, irrespective of their acceptability to the teacher, or their level of preparedness! The right to teach belongs to the teacher, and where institutions are managed largely by academicians, the right to teach can be seen to reside in the Board of management. The Hon. Supreme Court can throw light on this question - "Whether the right to teach is an integral part of the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in our constitution, or not".

The Role of Faculty

In IIMs, the faculty is represented by the Dean, and not the Director. The Director is seen as an extension of the authority and control of the Management, and the Dean is seen as the head of Academics. In most American Institutions, the Dean controls admissions, programs to be offered, how many to admit, faculty teaching load, research & consulting assignments, quality control and quality assurance, faculty salaries, Tenure and promotions, acquiring and administering research grants from Industry and Business, granting of Scholarships, fellowships and appointments as teaching/research assistantships to deserving students, and thus is really in control of the current and future academic relevance and reputation of the Institute.

Next

* Contributed by: -
Prof. P. V. Ramana; BE (Hons) Elec. Engg. from Andhra University, Waltair, India; MBA (Accounting & Finance) from Washington State University, USA; Prof. Engr. (Thermal Power), USA (equiv. to a Doctoral qualification); Receiver of Life Time Achievement award in 2003 for service to Management Education given by World HRD Congress, Boston, USA; Dr. P. N. Singh Foundation has instituted the "Prof. P. V. Ramana" for Corporate Governance; he has also founded ITM in 1991.