Good intentions remain intentions in Visva Bharati

The vice chancellor appears to have created hurdles for himself.

Rajat Kanta Ray, the vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati claims to have stirred a hornet’s nest in the university by his efforts to improve it. Some of the things he did are worth mentioning here.

He insisted that students in humanities departments write their examinations mandatorily in English. This would have allowed the university to send the answer scripts to universities outside the state for evaluation. Also, it would have enabled the university to have a greater pool of teachers from universities through the country, to involve them in the process of setting question papers as well.

In other words, the examination process would no longer have been prisoner to a small group of teachers from a handful of universities in the state. But, that was resisted by a section of the teachers.

Then came the initiative to bring all the 10 languages taught in Visva Bharati under one umbrella called Bhasa Bhavana (school of languages). Visva Bharati has the unique distinction of teaching in the pre-modern Chinese language, Tibetan and an honours in the Japanese.

Resistance from a section of teachers can only mean their fear of change.

Another initiative is cause for more heartburn for vested interests. To attract students from various parts of the country, the university decided to go for aggressive recruitment campaigns. This year, for the first time, the university advertised in various states and conducted admission tests in Shillong, Kolkata, Ranchi, Delhi and Hyderabad.

Professor G Subbaiya, who was in charge of the admission process, was candid in admitting that the response was less than expected. But, noted that since the university started the process very late in the academic year, not many courses could be offered this year.

Next year on, more courses would be available to students from other states. With more and more quality students entering Visva Bharati through competitive tests, demand for quality teaching will grow, which in turn might change the atmosphere of the campus.

But to bring about change, the VC must be able to take the university community with him.

Supriyo Tagore, a retired principal of Patha Bhavana, the original school with which Rabindranath started his Santiniketan, sees in Rajat Kanta Ray a haughty and insensitive person. Some other academics, past and present, share the view. This has created a distance between the VC and a large number of people who could otherwise have been strong supporters of the changes he aspires to bring in Visva Bharati.

Rabindranath’s name still has a pull strong enough to attract funds from all sorts of sources. Somendranath Bandopadhaya points out that some time earlier, a group of former students from Japan raised funds and gave them to Visva Bharati to set up Nippon Bhavana, with the expressed intention that it would act as a Centre for Indo-Japanese Relation and Cultural Exchange. After the initial years of activities, it is now languishing in neglect.

The Agro Economics Research Centre, which was renowned for its regular field studies and other activities, and which has a long tradition of collaborating with scholars like Amartya Sen, Ashok Rudra, Barbara Harriss and many others, is now gathering dust.

With nopermanent director for the last 15 years at its helm, the Centre lacks direction. The allegation of poor administration sticks to the VC, as he tends to ignore the charge.

Instead of attending to these problems seriously, the VC appears to be vying with the agitating workers for media attention.

Santiniketan was recently witness to an absurd drama enacted at Chhatim Tala, a place linked with the revered memory of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore( father of Rabindranath), when the VC was seen lying prostrate there. Later, he claimed that he was seeking directions from Debendranath (who died in 1905).

After that incident, for the first time the agitating employees started using that spot as their meeting place.