From 50 Years Ago: Education in Two Worlds

Education in Two Worlds

The Delhi University Vice-Chancellor’s resignation, after a year-long running battle with “forces more interested in creating problems than in solving them”, has generated much heated debate on the problems of the university. But Delhi is not alone. There has been recurrent trouble in recent months in universities in UP, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, among other states. The southern universities, unlike was generally the case till a few years ago, have not been havens of peace either, Annamalai, Bangalore and Osmania have witnessed agitations and violence over one issue or the other. Many universities have had to be closed for varying periods, examinations have had to be suspended and police has had to be called in to quell disturbances, protect beleaguered vice-chancellors and save university property. The proximate causes of trouble may have been different, but it has been made clear that the general temper of university communities round the country is such as is capable of being ignited by any trifling incident.