The Jeetah Wallahs Par Deepa Bhookhun 20 Septembre 2013 Any wonder the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) couldn’t pronounce itself on the EIILM conundrum? How can it when its minister in charge of EIILM is the brother of the owner of the campus? When he was until recently – before his father, unbeknownst to him, kicked him out – a trustee of the trust managing EIILM? When he refuses to acknowledge that there must be a little something known as conflict of interest when he is minister of Tertiary Education and his family operates universities? When to better publicize a university run by his sister, the minister of Tertiary Education decides to enroll as a student? When the minister comes forward and says in the face of protests from the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India, that Mauritius has its own rules and basically tells the UGC to mind its own business? When the minister finds nothing wrong in defending his brother’s university? When the Prime minister himself showers praise on the minister in question, thereby condoning everything Rajesh Jeetah has so far done and said. How, in the face of this, could the TEC be expected to make a decision, a proper one? What else could it do but abdicate in the face of its responsibilities and tell the branches of Indian universities in Mauritius to go and seek clarification from India themselves? There! Work done, let’s move on. I don’t know if it’s a matter of TEC director Ashok Kumar Bakhshi having just arrived in the country and just taken office, if it’s a matter of his reluctance to pack his stuff and leave so soon after his arrival in the event of him making a decision that would anger his minister. Or whether by not taking a stand and not coming up with a categorical statement to eradicate all doubts on the legitimacy of EIILM, Bakhshi was trying to let the public know that his hands were tied. I’d go for the latter explanation in view of the violence of the criticisms levelled against the TEC by the Jeetah mouthpieces since then. So now, it’s all the TEC’s fault for not dispelling the doubts and not reassuring the “poor” students – EIILM was more concerned with taking their money than with verifying whether they could deliver bona fide degrees to those students, by the way – and the UGC has now become the bad guy. All of EIILM’s problems have now been transformed into what the Jeetah wallahs call “an Indian problem”. It’s rather remarkable how one can manipulate public opinion, isn’t it? The crux of the matter is really rather straightforward; the TEC allowed the registration of EIILM in violation of Indian laws, without even bothering to sort the issue of recognition out. And when the Indian authorities beef up their opposition to EIILM Mauritius, what do the Jeetah wallahs do? Criticize the UGC, draw attention to the plight of EIILM students as if it were the Indian authorities’ fault that we thought we could mould laws to suit our cronies.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 20:38:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015