Can Bengal lead again?

If the West Bengal Higher Education minister wants the state to reclaim a position of national leadership in higher education, he must first become the captain of that journey himself ~ a captain who can dream while remaining firmly grounded in reality, and who knows how to bring out the very best in every member of the team without bias and favouritism

- ANGSHUMAN KAR

In May 1826, a seventeen-year-old youth, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, joined the ten-year-old Hindu College as a teacher and revolutionised the character of the institution.

He inspired a generation of students who were fearless and inquisitive. It was from then that Bengal's higher education system began to command deep respect throughout India. Today, however, scarcely a trace of that prestige remains. In the recent past, the state has failed to produce even a single scholar or educationist whose achievements could become a source of collective Bengali pride.

Among the top hundred universities and colleges in the country, only a handful of institutions from West Bengal have found a place; among these, some are, again, centrally funded or private institutions. Can this situation now change? By a curious coincidence, the same month of May in which Derozio joined Hindu College also witnessed the formation of a new BJP government in the state under the slogan ‘Paltano Darkar.’ The newly appointed higher education minister has also declared that his goal is to make West Bengal lead the nation in education. If this ambition is to be realised, he will have to take several difficult and unpopular decisions.

The first task must be to free educational institutions from political control. The governing bodies of all colleges in the state have already been dissolved. This is a step in the right direction. It must now be ensured that when new governing bodies are constituted, politically connected individuals close to the ruling party do not figure in these bodies. Similarly, the autonomy of universities must be guaranteed. Under the previous government, such autonomy largely existed only on paper.