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India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report

  • October 8, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

  • The “Free to Think 2024” annual report, published by the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, indicates a significant decline in India’s academic freedom over the past decade.
  • SAR is a network of 665 universities across the globe.
  • The report analysed 391 attacks on higher education communities across 51 countries between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024

About the Academic Freedom Index:

  • The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) is a tool designed to assess and measure the level of academic freedom in various countries around the world.
  • It is published by Global Public Policy Institute as a part of a global time-series dataset (1900-2019) in collaboration with Scholars at Risk (SAR) and V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy).
  • The scores are scaled from 0 (lowest) to 1 (highest)
  • Indicators:
    • Freedom to research and teach
    • Institutional Autonomy
    • Freedom of academic exchange and dissemination
    • Campus integrity
    • Freedom of academic and cultural expression

Decline in India’s performance:

  • India’s score on the Academic Freedom Index dropped from 6 points in 2013 to 0.2 points in 2023.
  • This score categorizes India as “completely restricted”, marking its lowest point since the mid-1940s.

Threats to Academic Freedom:

  • Government’s attempts to exert political control over universities.
  • There is an imposition of a Hindu nationalist agenda on educational policies, alongside limitations placed on student protests.
  • Restrictions Imposed by Institutions:
    • Notable universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and South Asian University (SAU) implemented new policies that restrict student expression.
    • JNU has barred protests near academic buildings.
    • SAU has prohibited protests on campus altogether.
  • Political Conflicts:
    • The BJP-led Union government has engaged in disputes with state governments over the control of higher education.
    • In Kerala, a conflict arose when Governor Arif Mohammed Khan opposed a legislative amendment that would replace him as Chancellor of state universities.
    • Similar struggles for control of higher education have occurred in other states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Punjab.
India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report Polity

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