Ethics in business
is an important concern globally. When it comes to the business of Education,
it has to be on the top agenda of those who run it – wherever they are, whoever
they are. The recent news that ‘ghost faculty’ were shown on the HR list of
some medical colleges is indeed a concern. But the news is only the tip of an
iceberg. The news that a few students were paraded as faculty during an
inspection in one of the colleges sometime back shows the lowest ebb of this
business. Adoption of unethical practices and getting refuge under some
loopholes of the law to safeguard their evil designs sets bad precedents. Use
of political and other contacts as shields has done more damage than good to
the system.
The evidences of
ghost faculty in many institutions of higher learning have been on the news in
the last two decades. The irony of the same member being on the faculty of a
few institutions simultaneously on a full time basis did raise many eye-brows! Still
such institutions managed to hold on their licenses due to clandestine
practices. The discovery of “ghost universities” in countries abroad luring the
students from other countries was indeed a word of caution!
Not only faculty,
existence of ghost laboratories, ghost libraries which throw up during
inspections only and then evaporate, both at the higher and lower levels of the
educational edifice shows the existing imperfections of the system! In some
government institutions also, such ghost culture appears in the form of
‘statistics’!
“Ghosts exist everywhere
since ages!” commented a seasoned bureaucrat! I am aware that I am talking only
of certain exceptions in the system and not casting aspersion on some wonderful
work by committed and passionate social activists.
When exceptions
manifest into a general practice, it indeed shows the emergence of a decaying
system.
Why do such things
happen? Is it just because qualified faculty is not available for gainful
engagement? Or is it an attempt to circumvent the rules which require certain
pro-rata engagement of faculty or is it a way that the managements could save
on the salaries of a few staff by just showing names of people who really don’t exist on job? Each
of the above reasons may be partly contributing to the reality!
While the modes of
licensing institutions of learning should get more simplified to facilitate
private entrepreneurs to invest in quality education, the investors should also
ensure that basic ethical practices are followed which creates trust in the
system. One major issue is the
increasing levels of corrupt practices at the regulatory levels both in higher
and lower education institutions. Passing through several barricades, the
investor feels a need to compensate these ‘losses’ and thus ‘alternate routes’
are discovered.
With many
educational institutions being run directly or by proxy by some ‘god-fathers’,
the rule of the muscle dominates over the rule of the mind in many places.
Academic heads become ‘scape goats’ during moments of crisis and are sacrificed
to satisfy the regulators. One is worried whether some of these institutions
are becoming another platform of newer ‘hawala models’!
The regulators do
not find adequate strength to deal with such institutions for obvious reasons.
It is time some serious thinking is done to restore better ethical practices in
the system by mentoring mad monitoring the institutions and ensuring their credibility.
“Mind boggling”
expenditure relating to obtaining licenses for educational institutions at all
levels has shifted the paradigm of educational start-ups from the “philanthropists”
to ‘venture capitalists” who only can handle such amounts of investment.
“Ghosts” have
different names, shapes, styles and strategies! “De-ghosting” the educational
institutions is going to be increasingly a challenge unless we think
purposefully and strategically!
Things could
possibly change if and when the government run institutions are set in order
and they function as role-models as they used to, a few decades before.
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