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.