Education ministry panel to scan varsity, college appointments
KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government has started making its moves to liberate education from the clutches of party hegemony. Higher education minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday held an informal discussion with academics to explore ways to "restore merit" in colleges and universities and decided to appoint a 'search committee' that will study all senior appointments on Bengal's 600 campuses. The advisers - respected names like Kalyan Sanyal, Abhirup Sarkar, Sunando Sanyal, Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, Kalyan Rudra and Aveek Majumdar - gave their views on several issues, from college/university governing bodies being packed with political appointees to giving elbow room to vice-chancellors. Sanyal will head the committee that will take stock of the appointment of senior officials based on their academic achievements, age and tenure of service, and examine the appointment procedure in various posts to ascertain they were made strictly on merit. The panel will also go thr...