GUWAHATI, Feb 18 � A team of senior officials from the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) today paid a surprise visit to Arya Vidyapeeth College, and interacted with the college principal and teachers who were participating in a seminar.
The DHE team accompanied by Principal Ajit Chandra Talukdar visited several departments and also inspected the college library.
The Director of Higher Education, PD Jidung who led the team told The Assam Tribune that the visit was part of an effort to assess the correct picture of higher education at the ground level. He said that similar sudden visits will be made in the coming days to other colleges. Visits with prior notice will also take place.
He expressed concern that college education in the State has not progressed in accordance with UGC guidelines even after teachers started receiving revised pay scales. �We have to take initiatives to ensure that there is academic accountability and quality education takes place,� he mentioned.
Sources in the college revealed that around a dozen teachers were found absent. However, it was subsequently known that the teachers had submitted leave applications to their departmental heads, which had not reached the principal�s office.
In the backdrop of absentee college teachers, who now receive enhanced salaries, the sudden visit of the DHE team has been seen as a welcome initiative.
�Impromptu visits by officials will keep college staff, particularly some teachers, on their toes. There are teachers who frequently go on long leaves. Hope such visits will make them change their ways,� said a student of the college, who did not wish to be named.
It is worth mentioning that a major drawback in the State�s higher education has been identified as teachers who lack the commitment and motivation to carry out teaching assignments as stipulated by the authorities concerned. The functioning of colleges across Assam has been undermined by teachers who either miss their classes or go on unauthorized leave. Their action have impacted on scores of students, who emerge from colleges with little employable knowledge and skills.
