At a time when the Uttar Pradesh government showed keen interest in improving the quality of education in its latest annual budget, a report compiled by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and tabled in the state assembly on February 22, speaks of serious shortcomings in higher education institutions in the state.
The report pertains to the performance audit of two universities—the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV), Varanasi and the University of Lucknow (LU)—along with 10 colleges affiliated to them, in the period 2014-20.
Principal accountant general BK Mohanty shared the highlights of the comprehensive report with the media here on Friday.
The report stated that the state did not have a specific policy to regulate the opening of universities/colleges. “The number of public and private universities, and government and non-government aided colleges under the administrative control of the higher education department had been stagnant since 2016-17. However, the number of self-financed colleges increased from 5,377 in 2016-17 to 6,682 in 2019-20,” it added.
Likewise, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of the state in 2019-20 was lower (25.30%) than the national average (27.10 %). According to the report, no state university/college was among the top 100 higher educational institutions (HEIs) in India. Only 8.47% (498 HEIs) of HEIs had NAAC gradings in 2018-19. Their number further reduced to 2.60% (i.e. 183 HEIs) in 2019-20. Of them, only 29 HEIs (0.40%) had NAAC ‘A’ grading, the report says.
The more worrying fact was that five districts did not have any government degree college, while five others did not have a men’s or co-ed government degree college, the report stated. Furthermore, 20 districts did not have either a government or non-government aided girls’ college.
The enrolment level too showed a regular decline, from 94.88 lakh students in 2015-16 to 90.61 lakh students in 2019-20. The average enrolment per college reduced from 1,830 students in 2015-16 to 1,261 students in 2019-20, the CAG report mentioned.
The audit report also said in spite of a specific provision laid by the University Grant Commission (UGC), MGKV and LU did not approve the fee structure of their affiliated private colleges. The audit also observed that the tuition fee fixed by the state government through an executive order was not complied with by many higher education institutions.
Around 73% to 80% of students of MGKV and 56% to 67% of LU benefited from post-matric scholarships provided by the Social Welfare Department during 2017-20. During 2019-20, only 29% and 17% of classrooms in MGKV and LU, respectively, were ICT enabled.
Another worrying fact was that against the prescribed ratio of 20:1, the student-teacher ratio (STR) in government colleges during 2019-20 was 49:1.
From 2014-15 to 2019-20 (except during 2018-19), the publication of exam results of different courses was delayed up to 273 days in MGKV. An analysis for LU during the 2017-20 period showed the delay was up to 175 days.
Moreover, the data of students who pursue further education within the same university or go to a different one had not been maintained.
The report also observed the governing bodies of the universities could not function effectively due to the vacant seats of members and the lack of requisite meetings.
