jects appointed under section 3; such teachers shall be members ex-officio.
“(b) Three persons selected by the Council from amongst its members.
“(c) Not more than two members co-opted by the persons mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) from amongst those engaged_in Post-Graduate teaching in the subject concerned in places outside Calcutta”.
Let us take the example of the Board of Higher Studies in History. According to the report of the Post-Graduate Reorganisation Committee the paid teaching staff in History is composed of:
A. Six whole-time lecturers, and two part-time lecturers.
B. The Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture and fifteen other teachers, plus seven lecturers attached to other Boards and to honorary lecturers. Thus the Board is composed of eight teachers of the general history section, twenty-five lecturers from the section on Ancient Indian History, and three members elected by the Post-Graduate Council in Arts. If the members appointed by the Post-Graduate Council in Arts have any pretension to scholarship in any department of Indology and raise any objection to any proposal made by paid members of the teaching staff, they can be silenced at once by the absolute majority.
Functions of the Board of Higher Studies
The Regulations for Post-Graduate teaching were framed in such a manner that they really put a discount on sound research work being done by any of its members and inevitably prevent efficient Post-Graduate teaching from being imparted to the students in Calcutta. The Regulations lay down that;
“12. The Board of Higher Studies in each subject shall, for purposes of Post-Graduate teaching and Post-Graduate examination, initiate proposals regarding—
(a) courses of study;
(b) text-books or recommended books;
(c) standards and conduct of examinations;
(d) appointments to the teaching staff and the salaries attached thereto[1]
(e) teaching requirements from year to year and preparation of the time-table;
(f) distribution of work among the members of the staff in that department;
(g) appointment of examiners; and
(h) such other matters as may, from time to time, be specified by the Council with the approval of the Senate.”
Thus it will be apparent once more that the merest baby of a graduate, say an M. A. of six months’ standing, becomes an ex-officio member of the Board of Higher Studies as soon as he is appointed a Post-Graduate lecturer. He will be impressed with a wholesome fear for the senior members of the Board and the party in power and he will become impressed with an idea that his future prospects will be determined by this Board's opinion of his “research work”. He will at once cease fo take an independent or indeed any part in the debate, other than silently voting with his “master”. The most dangerous of the functions assigned to the Boards of Higher Studies are:
1. The selection of text and recommended books; because the teachers who form an
- ↑ This regulation has been slightly modified by a resolution passed by the Senate according to the recommendation of the Post-Graduate re-organisation Committee which was sanctioned by the Government of Bengal on the 28th January 1925. According to this resolution;—
“All questions relating to appointments, tenure, pay, terms and conditions of service, regarding the teaching staff under Chapter XI shall be referred by the Executive Committee of the Post-Graduate Council concerned to an Appointments Board which shall hold office till 30th June, 1926, or for such short period, after that date, as the Senate may think necessary. The Appointments Board shall be constituted as follows:
(1) Vice-Chancellor, President, ex-officio;
(2) President of the Council concerned. i.e. the President of the Post-Graduate Council in Arts in the case of an appointment in Arts Department and the President of the Post-Graduate Council in Science in the case of an appointment in the Science Department;
(3) Chairman of one of the Boards mentioned in Sections 8 and 18 in case of an appointment relating to that particular Board;
(4) One representative of the Board of Higher Studies concerned;
(5) & (6) Two representatives of the Executive Committee concerned;
(7) One representative of the Faculty of Arts in the case of an appointment in the Arts Department and one representative of the Faculty of Science in the case of an appointment in the Science Department;
(8) & (9) Two representatives of the Syndicate one of whom shall be the Head of or a Professor in an affiliated College;
(10) & (11) Two representatives of the Senate one of whom shall be the Head of or a Professor in an affiliated College;
Provided that the two representatives of Affiliated Colleges, mentioned in the above two clauses, shall not be members of the staff of one and the same college;
(12) President of the Board of Accounts. The quorum for a meeting of the Appointments Board shall be fixed at 8.”
I am indebted to Mr. Shyama Prosad Mukherjee for this piece of information and must admit that though I had been supplied with the copy of the Post-Graduate Re-organisation Committee I had overlooked this item altogether.
