Bengal colleges eagerly awaiting physical visits by NAAC teams now unhappy as assessment made online due to bribery arrests

West Bengal colleges disappointed as NAAC accreditation verification shifts online due to bribery scandal, impacting rural institutions.

Colleges in West Bengal that had laid out red carpets for visiting teams to come and rate them for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation — after having completed tedious paperwork for the same — are a disappointed lot after being told that the verification will now be conducted online.

They were conveyed this news after arrests were made in a case where an Andhra Pradesh institution allegedly paid bribes for a favourable rating by the visiting NAAC team. What’s also bothering such colleges is that several other colleges that had already received specific dates for visits by peer teams will be physically visited anyway — something they think is unfair.

“We were waiting for a physical assessment by the NAAC peer team. Suddenly we received a press release from NAAC that the assessment will be done online, but the procedure is yet to be published. Hence it is hard to conclude whether it will be good or bad. We believe that any new system will be good for our institutions. But again, it depends upon the people who will use that system. We hope for the best,” Debasish Pal, principal of Uluberia College in Howrah, told The Hindu.

Until the same time last year, hardly 20% of colleges in the State had NAAC accreditation, something that not only establishes their reputation as an educational institution but also entitles them to various Central Government funds. That was when the State Government began pushing institutions to quickly get the accreditation; it even set up numerous panels, at different levels, to handhold colleges through the process. Many colleges burnt the midnight oil to complete the requirements.

Another reason for the hurry was that the rating system is set to change later this year. As of now, a college mainly needs to show its pass percentage and the number of add-on courses it offers, but once the new system is in place, it will need to show placements or progression of students to higher studies or entrepreneurship.

Ayantika Ghosh, principal of Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, NAAC-accredited B+ in 2016, was more forthcoming about her disappointment. “It is disheartening that the college, all geared up and looking forward to the peer team’s physical visit at the end of February, is suffering the consequences of dishonesty and corruption laid out by other institutions. In the post-Covid situation, when everything was haphazard, it needed a lot of extra time and effort to keep all documents in an apple pie order, ready for the peer team visit. When I joined in May 2023, my focus was all on the upcoming NAAC rating and I was encouraging every staff and student to give their best to increase the grade.”

Dr. Ghosh added: “Coping with the chaotic and disrupted system induced by the pandemic, it was not easy to arrange all documents but our staff’s diligence and dedication made this possible. Countless meetings, innumerable documentations, renovation of college building and all paraphernalia went on, considering the end of February — the first set of dates we had opted for — will be the time for the peer team visit. It was disturbing when the news was circulating of the bribery involved in certain institutions during the peer team visit. The disappointment reached its peak when that mail arrived, informing us that the college will now have to choose between online visit or the new rating system. This has dampened the spirits of all stakeholders.”