Guv makes surprise visit to Calcutta Univ

KOLKATA: Governor C V Ananda Bose — who is also the Chancellor of state universities—on Monday made a surprise visit to Calcutta University in College Street. Later in the day, Bose again visited the university and met the principals of colleges under the university.

Few days earlier, a letter was sent to the Vice-Chancellors of the state universities by the Governor with directives seeking weekly reports and prior approval of the Governor for any decisions which have financial implications. The state Education minister Bratya Basu had said that the state government and state Education department were kept in the dark about this letter.

However, the interim V-C of Calcutta University Asis Kumar Chattopadhyay said that no conversation was held discussing the letter. According to Chattopadhyay, the Governor had visited the university’s College Street campus to see the varsity’s day-to-day activities. Governor had also met post-graduate teachers and principals of colleges under CU who were present there for another meeting with the V-C on the framework of National Education Policy (NEP).

Bose, initially, conducted the surprise visit at 11 am where he met the V-C and the Registrar, amongst other officials and left the campus in twenty minutes. He revisited the university campus at around 3:15 pm, where he further met with the teachers and the principals. The principals of colleges under CU were present there for a separate meeting on NEP which took place at 12 noon. In that meeting, discussions had taken place on the framework of the policy and its implementation. In accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP), the undergraduate course will be of four years instead of three years.

Chattopadhyay while speaking with journalists said that many principals have conveyed that NEP can be implemented this year if proper infrastructure, logistics and syllabus is provided for it. He also said that some principals have also suggested it to be implemented from next year. The report, based on this discussion, will be submitted to the six-member committee headed by the Jadavpur University V-C Suranjan Das.

During Bose’s second visit, a section of students demonstrated a protest against implementation of NEP and urged the Chancellor to not implement the policy. The students shouted slogans as the Governor’s convoy entered the university.