India’s teachers’ and students’ unions must defend academic autonomy

Indian universities have strong unions, representing both staff and students. Yet there are hardly any strong voices raised against the current government’s systematic attack on academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

The 2020 National Education Policy (NEP), for instance, hasn’t gone down well with university and college teachers because it has all the ingredients of a government power grab. At present, Indian universities are governed through senates or executive councils, on which deans and other elected faculty members, appointed from among the professors in order of seniority, form the majority. But the NEP stipulates that when universities are deemed ready for greater “autonomy”, governing boards will be formed to “make all appointments including that of head of the institution, and take all decisions regarding governance”. The policy stipulates that such decisions will be taken “free of any external interference”, but there is no guarantee that boards will have any internal members, and academics fear that external members will be appointed through whom the government can exert control.

Nevertheless, there has been no real agitation against the NEP – which has not been discussed in parliament or even scrutinised by its education committee – either by teachers or students. The only opposition, in the form of seminars and statements, has come from AIFUCTO, the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations. Its president, Kesab Bhattacharya, lamented last summer that, “in spite of the demands of almost all democratic organisations that education policy should have the combination of three Es – entry for all, equity and excellence – the present government has transformed it to 3 Cs – centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation”.

The Academic Freedom Index 2023 placed India in the bottom 30 per cent of countries and included it among 22 in which standards of academic freedom have fallen. And particular scrutiny has recently fallen on the University of Delhi.

Last month, Delhi announced it had constituted a committee to frame policies on social media use by its employees. A section of teachers denounced the move. Noting that no elected member was appointed to the committee, Maya John, an assistant professor and elected academic council member, said: “It seems like a troubling development in the direction of curbing DU employees’…democratic rights and freedom of expression.”

However, Delhi’s vice-chancellor, Yogesh Singh, who is chairing the panel, insisted he merely wanted to ensure “effective use of social media” because it plays a huge role in teacher-student communication.

Concerns about Delhi had previously been raised by last year’s recruitment drive. Accompanied by an abolition of casual positions, it was billed as a bid to end precarity. However, Nandita Narayan, former Delhi University Teachers Association president, described it as an academic massacre, in which large numbers of experienced ad hoc teachers were replaced by people with little academic experience but who were affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Hindu nationalist movement, which includes the ruling BJP party.

She added that the ad-hoc teachers displaced were primarily those who had criticised the BJP on social media or were members of minorities, “particularly Muslims and Christians”.

Another example of suspected government attempts to politicise universities was last month’s directive by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to create on-campus selfie points featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the background – complete with design examples that also featured snapshots of the government’s achievements in education and innovation.

Later, national education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the idea was motivated by the fact that Modi had made India proud on the world stage, but added that posing for selfies was not mandatory for students. Still, after criticism from opposition parties and academics, the UGC withdrew the suggested designs without specifying the reason. It said modified designs might be issued, but it was not clear whether they would feature Modi.

This is a small example of where pushback has had at least limited success. But unless India’s academic and student unions start to defend their freedoms much more strongly and consistently, they could soon find that it is too late.

Mukhtar Ahmad is a former professor of electrical engineering at Aligarh Muslim University.