New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC)’s directive to universities and colleges in the country to install the Narendra Modi government’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) logo on their premises has drawn flak from academics.According to The Telegraph, they say such moves are aimed at advancing the “political propaganda of the government” as well as to “interfere with the autonomy of educational institutions”.Based on the request made by the Union ministry of women and child development, which is the nodal ministry for the BBBP campaign, UGC has written to vice-chancellors of universities and principals of all colleges to use the BBBP logos to create awareness on valuing the girl child.“In this regard, MWCD proposed to create awareness on the valuing of the girl child and also enclosed the logo and tagline of BBBP. The Higher Educational Institutions are requested to use BBBP logo on the website, portals, stationery items, events and prominent places in the premises of the HEIs. It will convey the commitment of ensuring the rights of the girl child and empowerment of women,” the UGC letter to universities and colleges said.The higher education regulatory authority has also asked institutions to upload details of the activities they conduct, with photos and videos, on the University Activity Monitoring Portal (https://uamo.uec.ac.in/).Maya John, a member of the academic council of Delhi University, told the Telegraph that the UGC letter is nothing short of “diktat for creating political propaganda for the government”. She said such moves distract universities and educational institutions from “critical areas like teaching and research”.“It has become a pattern that the government and the UGC are regularly nudging the educational institutions to conduct activities like awareness on G20 and the Swachhata campaign. These are purely political propaganda,” she added.Another academic who chose not to be named said that the UGC is “deviating” from its mandate of maintaining academic standards. “The UGC is deviating from its core mandate and doing things beyond its domain. The way vice-chancellors are being appointed on the basis of ideology and other non-academic considerations, they do not oppose the government’s diktats passed through the UGC,” he added.A former vice-chancellor of a state university concurred with the views. “The UGC is doing this deliberately. This should be challenged in court to stop the UGC and the government from interfering in the affairs of educational institutions over non-academic activities. The UGC should rather suggest how to improve the quality of education, which is on the decline,” he said.The UGC’s latest directive comes close on the heels of another circular where higher education institutions were asked to set up selfie points with cutouts of the Prime Minister, which also came under severe criticism.
