07-15-2006, 01:28 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Ramadoss dilutes recruitment rules for faculty </b>
Pioneer.com
Yoga Rangatia | New Delhi
MCI fears doing away with on-job training will lower academic standards ---- To keep his father's quota promise, Health Minister A Ramadoss has lowered the bar for recruitment of teachers in medical colleges. The Health Ministry has done away with the mandatory additional one to two year teaching experience for diploma holders of the National Board of Examination before being considered for appointment as lecturers in specialties.
Reviewing its 1994 order, the Government has decided that "requirement of additional one/two years teaching experience needs to be discontinued," a recent Ministry circular to health secretaries said.
The timing of the circular, however, indicates that the Government's decision is not driven by concern for either students or maintaining medical education standards, but with an eye at meeting a political objective: immediate increase of number of medical seats to accommodate a cynical reservation regime.
By diluting its earlier provision for recruitment of teachers, the Ministry hopes to bridge the demand in teaching staff. Increase in number of medical seats is linked to teacher to student ratio; without increasing the number of teachers, medical institutions cannot increase intake of students.
The move also raises eyebrows because the board is headed by a relative of Health Minister, Dr A Rajshekharan. Several attempts to elicit his response to the Government's decision, failed.
The Board awards post-graduate diplomas to students enrolled with non-teaching institutions, unlike MD and MS degrees awarded by medical colleges accredited to the Medical Council of India. Candidates take entrance exam, register with a recognised hospital, learn on-the-job, and pass examination held by the board. But the diploma awarded by NBE is not treated at par with degrees awarded by medical colleges.
Their recruitment for teaching posts has not been favoured, so much so that not even one of about 1,300 diploma holders has reached Professor level.
But the move to equate the two parallel systems, one run by NBE and another by MCI, has evoked sharp reactions. <b>"This will cost academic excellence and is a compromise to meet political ends. There is no structured curriculum, admission procedure or full-time faculty. In medical colleges, each teaching unit must have three staff and 30-bedded facility. There is no such teaching norm under NBE system. The Council has taken a position that it cannot be equated with degrees by medical colleges. It was conveyed to the Government in May 2006 and will be taken up in its next general body meet,"</b> MCI sources said.
Out of the 400 accredited hospitals with NBE, are public hospitals like Guru Tegh Bahadur and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospitals. The same set of teachers double up for MD/MS students and those pursuing diplomas. "We have rigorous appraisal system and central examination system. The diploma is internationally recognised," said NBE spokesperson S Roy Biswas.
Defending the Government's decision, chairman of post-graduate medical education committee of Health Ministry, Ranjit Roy Chaudhury said: "We need many more teaching staff. Diploma holders have gone on to occupy chairs of medicine and surgery abroad, but are discriminated in the country. If there is a variation in standards of NBE qualifications, the same is also true of medical colleges run by MCI. Instances of corruption cases against MCI inspectors have also surfaced. There is no case for discriminating against NBE diploma holders."
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Pioneer.com
Yoga Rangatia | New Delhi
MCI fears doing away with on-job training will lower academic standards ---- To keep his father's quota promise, Health Minister A Ramadoss has lowered the bar for recruitment of teachers in medical colleges. The Health Ministry has done away with the mandatory additional one to two year teaching experience for diploma holders of the National Board of Examination before being considered for appointment as lecturers in specialties.
Reviewing its 1994 order, the Government has decided that "requirement of additional one/two years teaching experience needs to be discontinued," a recent Ministry circular to health secretaries said.
The timing of the circular, however, indicates that the Government's decision is not driven by concern for either students or maintaining medical education standards, but with an eye at meeting a political objective: immediate increase of number of medical seats to accommodate a cynical reservation regime.
By diluting its earlier provision for recruitment of teachers, the Ministry hopes to bridge the demand in teaching staff. Increase in number of medical seats is linked to teacher to student ratio; without increasing the number of teachers, medical institutions cannot increase intake of students.
The move also raises eyebrows because the board is headed by a relative of Health Minister, Dr A Rajshekharan. Several attempts to elicit his response to the Government's decision, failed.
The Board awards post-graduate diplomas to students enrolled with non-teaching institutions, unlike MD and MS degrees awarded by medical colleges accredited to the Medical Council of India. Candidates take entrance exam, register with a recognised hospital, learn on-the-job, and pass examination held by the board. But the diploma awarded by NBE is not treated at par with degrees awarded by medical colleges.
Their recruitment for teaching posts has not been favoured, so much so that not even one of about 1,300 diploma holders has reached Professor level.
But the move to equate the two parallel systems, one run by NBE and another by MCI, has evoked sharp reactions. <b>"This will cost academic excellence and is a compromise to meet political ends. There is no structured curriculum, admission procedure or full-time faculty. In medical colleges, each teaching unit must have three staff and 30-bedded facility. There is no such teaching norm under NBE system. The Council has taken a position that it cannot be equated with degrees by medical colleges. It was conveyed to the Government in May 2006 and will be taken up in its next general body meet,"</b> MCI sources said.
Out of the 400 accredited hospitals with NBE, are public hospitals like Guru Tegh Bahadur and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospitals. The same set of teachers double up for MD/MS students and those pursuing diplomas. "We have rigorous appraisal system and central examination system. The diploma is internationally recognised," said NBE spokesperson S Roy Biswas.
Defending the Government's decision, chairman of post-graduate medical education committee of Health Ministry, Ranjit Roy Chaudhury said: "We need many more teaching staff. Diploma holders have gone on to occupy chairs of medicine and surgery abroad, but are discriminated in the country. If there is a variation in standards of NBE qualifications, the same is also true of medical colleges run by MCI. Instances of corruption cases against MCI inspectors have also surfaced. There is no case for discriminating against NBE diploma holders."
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