AADHAAR CHECK ON TEACHERS?
REVAMP If teacher profiles are linked to Aadhaar, then universities and colleges won’t be able to lie about faculty positions when they apply for quality accreditation
The government is planning to link faculty profiles with Aadhaar to curb the menace of ‘ghost’ teachers.
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is mulling linking faculty profiles with Aadhaar numbers to curb the menace of ‘ghost’ teachers who are shown as faculty members in universities and colleges when they apply for quality accreditation.
According to sources, the proposed move will ensure that institutes are not be able to lie about faculty positions by providing fraudulent data as it will be easily verifiable as it will be linked with Aadhaar. Officials said that many institutes do not have adequate faculty as prescribed in the norms but provide fake details to get accreditation.
The NAAC which accredits institutions of higher education in the country suspended its application process in March till the grading system undergoes an overhaul.
The move was initiated after complaints of subjectivity in the accreditation process by the NAAC and alleged corruption and misconduct by peer teams during their field visits.
The human resource development ministry had directed NAAC to overhaul the assessment framework to bring in transparency, objectivity and technology.
Linking faculty members with Aadhaar number is part of the proposed changes. The final framework is likely to be introduced from August.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) recently called a review meeting to discuss the progress made so far by the government. Sources further said that the inspections which are carried out by academic teams will be done by professional data verification agencies such as Crisil among others. At the same time, IITs, IIMs, NITs will also be roped in for on-site peer review.
“The revised framework will include faculty profiles and other human resources details to be linked with Aadhaar.
The new format will be user friendly with an option to upgrade on a dynamic basis and will be able to generate reports and alerts, ensuring transparency of the process,” said a senior HRD official.
The NAAC accredits universities, autonomous colleges, affiliated/constituent colleges, health and scientific institutions and teacher education and physical education among others.
In the revised framework it has also been proposed that the curriculum vitae (CV) of the assessors (peer team members) who will inspect the universities and colleges are placed in the public domain.
“Penalty provisions will also be put in place for institutions submitting fraudulent data/ information/supporting documents. Also, during the intervening valid accreditation period if NAAC comes across any serious violations or decreasing quality the institutions will be subject to a midterm assessment and evaluation which may result in the change of the accreditation status too,” said a senior HRD official on the condition of anonymity.
The revised framework will also see enhanced role of students and alumni by introducing key indicators on alumni engagement and student satisfaction survey.
The institutes will also be judged on the generic learning outcomes by assessing the students.
The highest grade that NAAC currently gives is of A++. Also, following complaints of corruption, an 80% weightage has been proposed for self-reported data analysed through softwarebased capturing and 20% weightage to peer review teams.