New Delhi: One day before faculty at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) turn out to teach on an empty stomach to push for a pay raise, the head of another elite institution turned emotional on Wednesday about the way the salary debate has eclipsed what he considers is a bigger issue.
Hunger strike: A file photo of the IIT Delhi campus. The stir at the Indian Institutes of Technology revolves around the freedom to recruit, a discretion they say has been diluted by the 16 Sep notification. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint
To Pankaj Chandra, director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, (IIM-B), the more important issue is the government’s inability to make the IITs and IIMs truly world-class institutions and to let go of control over these elite schools. “If the government of Singapore can make NUS (National University of Singapore) fantastic, if the Chinese government can make its institutions the best, should Indian government not do the same for its institutions?” asked Chandra.
“There are some tremendous barriers (to being world-class) such as faculty compensation and autonomy,” added Chandra, a PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who taught for 10 years at IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) before moving to IIM-B. “These institutions need autonomy to make independent decisions. Who should decide pay? What is the role of the board? Where can they set up an institution?”
IIM faculty have reason to empathize with their counterparts at the IITs, where 3,000 teachers across the country are to observe a hunger strike on Thursday.
Both the IIMs and IITs have struggled with almost every government and human resource development (HRD) minister, who oversees education, over turf. The saga began in 2004 when then HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi ordered the IIMs to slash their Rs3 lakh fee for the two-year course by 80%, a move that was successfully challenged in court by students.
In 2007, then HRD minister Arjun Singh asked the IIMs to delay admission notices as the government fought a Supreme Court order on reservations; eventually admissions were allowed 16 days, several press conferences and cabinet meetings later.
Through Singh’s tenure in office, there was speculation that a Bill that will govern the IIMs more tightly might be put to Parliament. The IIMs snubbed Singh over any interference in their fee hikes in subsequent years.
With the present HRD minister Kapil Sibal committed to education reform, “we are very hopeful of what can happen,” said Chandra.
The IIMs, especially the older ones in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, have achieved absolute financial autonomy for their operational expenses. IIM-A, for instance, has not sought any grant from the government starting in 2003-04, according to people familiar with the situation.