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Higher Education Autonomy Concerns

Credit By: DR S. SAPRU
  • Comments 0
  • 10 May 2026

We have devalued higher education practically to the level of school education, or even to primary school education, to say the least

The recent news about the suspension of the Amar Singh College Principal, along with a faculty member, is a painful and disgusting news. This happened because of the complaint of a female student who alleged that the Professor subject her to verbal abuse. This was followed by a student reaction, which culminated in a law and order problem, resulting in the police entering the campus of the college.

The college Principal constituted a committee to ascertain and report facts within 48 hours, along with recommendations. Probably the administration of the day did not find substance in the action of the Principal and therefore suspended him as well as the accused professor and constituted a committee of its own to ascertain and look into the allegations. So long, so good. But questions arise?

  1. Does the Government of the day consider that the Principal of the college cannot be trusted, or did he try to shield the Professor by constituting an enquiry committee?
  2. Why could the Government of the day not wait for the report of the committee constituted by the principal?
  3. Who allowed the entry of the police on the campus?

What seems to be capturing is a fundamental change in how higher education is positioned in the administrative hierarchy. The post of Director of Colleges was meant to be a buffer between academics and bureaucracy. It recognised that colleges aren’t just another government office. They run on academic freedom, collegial governance, and a different ethos. When a Principal can be suspended without that academic layer of consultation, it signals that the bureaucracy now sits directly on top of the classroom.

 

I recall, the then Prime Ministers of J&K State, Late Shiekh Mohamad Abdullah (grandfather of the present Chief Minister) and Late Bakshi Ghulam Mohamad, wanted to visit the college; their vehicle would stop at the gate, and a message would be sent to the College Principal seeking permission to enter the college. In contrast, the Principal gets suspended now.

 

The situation has arisen due to the unplanned expansion of the colleges in the state. One finds a degree college practically around the corner. Earlier, a district headquarters used to have a one-degree College, which would mean a total of 20-degree colleges ( 20 districts), which were initially only 14. The present number of degree colleges across the UT of J&K is above 150.

 

We have devalued higher education practically to the level of school education, or even to primary school education, to say the least. This expansion in the number of colleges is bound to create indiscipline and, above all, unemployment.  With gender equality, most of the colleges are co-educational colleges and some sort of abrasions are bound to happen.

 

Amar Singh College, Srinagar, has been one of J&K’s premier institutions of the state. Generations of Kashmir’s doctors, civil servants, writers, and scientists walked those corridors. The damage isn’t just to one person or one order. It is to the convention that higher education deserves a degree of autonomy. Without that, the “Ailing Higher Education Department” does not get a cure — it gets another symptom

 

Once that convention goes, we get exactly what the South African University Gate warned, a stark message, which reads:
 

“Destroying any nation does not require atomic bombs or long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in examinations.”


Patients die at the hands of such doctors. Buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Money is lost at the hands of such economists. Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges.

 

The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation.

 

( The Author is a former fellow of the United Nations University. Feedback: ssapru@gmail.com)

 

 

 

 

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