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| Agitation against the intellectual corruption in nepal:rethinking of its purview |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
A group of young but educated people have been agitating against the agreement the government made with part-time teachers at Tribhuvan University (TU) to appoint them on contract basis without further procedure. A committee by the name of "TU Struggle Committee" has been formed to ensure that the agitation against the agreement is carried out in organized manner. This group encompasses both the students who are currently studying as master level and those who have already completed their Master's Degree. There is a preponderance of students in this agitation. In this sense, it is essentially student movement. If this agreement is translated into action, those who are not working as part-time teacher now, especially fresh graduates do not get a chance to work as a teacher at TU.
Many teachers are now working at TU, the oldest university in Nepal, and at different colleges affiliated to TU on a part-time basis. Four rounds of talks have been held between the agitating group and the TU executive body since November 18. But these rounds of talks failed to change the mind of those who give protection to the bad intellectual culture through the power they wield. The executive body is still remiss in the demand of the agitating group for the cancellation of the agreement the government and the part-time teachers reached in August. Its cavalier attitude towards their demand made them take some further actions. Doing so is the only option they have to pressurize upon the concerned body to have their demand met. They locked the main gate of the office of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), the VC office, and the offices of the Register and the TU Service Commission. Though they unlocked the main gate of the office of the Vice-chancellor some days ago, they said they would not stop locking the VC office and the offices of the Register and the TU Service Commission until their demand is met.
The way they were employed on a part-time basis was arbitrary. Nepotism, favoritism, and cronyism were used as the criteria for employing them. They were employed without "selection". They were not selected from a mass of competitors but were directly employed by the college administration as if the college were owned by the college chief. They are not the best of those who are willing to pursue an academic career. This is why those who think they are capable of working as an ideal university teacher are expressing their disagreement with the agreement in the form of movement.
This is historic not only in terms of time consideration but also in terms of issue consideration. It is not similar to other student movements Nepal witnessed in the past in respect of the demand it has raised. If it is similar to them, it is only in the sense that it is being launched by the students and they were also launched by the students.
This movement cannot be criticized on the grounds that the issue it has raised is unimportant. However, this is bound to attract criticism if it confines itself to the demand it has raised now. The demand it has raised is that the agreement reached between the part-time teachers and the government should be rescinded. Prima facie, it would seem that they are worried about this agreement in that they take it as the end of the possibility or little possibility of them getting an opportunity to be employed as university teacher. But, I believe that they relish rescinding the agreement not because they are worried about their career but because they are worried about the future of the university education as a whole. Their worry stems from their having gained the apprehension of the fact that the implementation of the agreement will result in the retardation of intellectual progress in the country. The way university teachers at TU are employed forms just part of what I prefer to call "intellectual corruption". As is obvious from this, this movement is not against the intellectual corruption in Nepal as a whole but against part of it only.
Let me explain what I mean by the phrase “intellectual corruption" to help you fathom my argument. Corruption is a term applied to a kind of behavior, which is personally advantageous but socially detrimental, and therefore socially unacceptable. I have used the term “corruption” in this sense. By the term “intellectual corruption” I mean a set of demeanors shown by intellectuals, or those who are wrongly regarded as intellectual and also those who wield the official power to influence the educational sector, which make it impossible for what may be called “intellectual progress” to take place.
The set of behaviors that characterize those who wallow in the intellectual corruption appertain to the way university teachers are appointed, the way they are promoted, the way they teach, and the way carry out their duty other than teaching.
Now, let me discuss intellectual corruption in Nepal in brief. If we are to think without going beyond the fact that university teachers in Nepal are appointed and promoted through a competition, we may think that there is nothing wrong with the process involved in their appointment and promotion. To understand that there is something wrong with that process, we must go beyond this rather misleading fact, and enter into the question of what lies behind this competition. The kind of competition through which they are appointed and promoted is not the competition proper. This may perhaps be rightly described as “the so-called competition”. It is no more than a cover used for concealing the impartial appointment decision made without taking into account the competitive strength of the applicants.
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Ajit Rai
I take a deep interest in development and underdevelopment as well as in politics, especially in its relation to economics. Currently, I am undertaking systematic research, and intend to theorize about Nepalese development and underdevelopment from a socio-philosophical approach.
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