J&K: Administration agrees to put to action Public University Bill

Srinagar: On Saturday, the Administrative Council, which is led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, agreed to put in action the Jammu and Kashmir Public University Bill-2022. The main agenda behind the move was to look into the issues from a wide variety of universities in the Union Territory. “The government intends to frame a common Public University Bill which would apply to all public universities of UT of J&K,” the Raj Bhavan stated.

The Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, adviser Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta attended the meeting.

The administration said that the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020) focuses on an education system “rooted in Indian ethos” that plays an important part in transforming India, sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high-quality education to all, so that India becomes a global knowledge superpower.

The NEP-2020, “moreover envisages fundamental transformation in the structure of higher education” by compulsory transformation of all affiliated colleges to multidisciplinary research, teaching universities, or degree-awarding autonomous institutions by 2035.

The key features of the current draft include emphasis on uniformity and flexibility in working of all the higher educational institutions.

“A number of new provisions have also been introduced to make the functioning of universities transparent and accountable through transparent procedures and public disclosures,” the government said. In order to have a completely transaparent and merit-based recruitment process, screening by the Public Service Commission of the UT and giving less importance to interview has been suggested for gazetted positions.

For non-gazetted positions, as per the statement, it has been proposed to do away with interviews altogether and conduct recruitment through the Service Selection Board.