By Zoya Hasan
Academic freedom is a central issue of concern in contemporary India. It has been one of the focal points of public debates on higher education. Rising government interference, incremental political pressure, and a string of ideological curbs on teaching and research, have had a direct bearing on the functioning of universities and academic institutions. A direct fallout has been an erosion of critical inquiry associated with a vibrant education system.
Academic freedom is the freedom of inquiry, the freedom to teach, to determine who may teach and what may be taught, to research, and to disseminate and publish such findings without interference or censorship from external entities, including the state. This would include the right to dissent and the freedom to deliberate and express opinion – individual and collective – on public issues within and outside institutions of higher learning. In its complete form, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to education places academic freedom as a “fundamental right, not a professional freedom limited to education personnel or traditional institutions such as universities”. 1
The UN’s Special Rapporteur places academic freedom as a “fundamental right, not a professional freedom limited to education personnel”.
This freedom lies at the heart of the production of knowledge. It promotes critical thinking, rationality, scientific temper, and, at the broadest level of intellectual engagement, fosters diversity. Academic development and intellectual debate is difficult without education providing access to different perspectives, a respect for expertise when one’s own knowledge is not enough, and a rich enough language to precisely describe this reality.
Right-wing regimes, irrespective of geographies, adopt familiar strategies. One is the resort to populist rhetoric that is dismissive of intellectual pursuits. Often harking back to claims of past glory, this seamlessly morphs into anti-intellectualism – a fundamental tenet of these regimes. In India, the combined impact of intolerance and anti-intellectualism is evident from the concerted attempts to impose a specific political agenda on higher education institutions.
Corporatised academia and compromised critical thinking
One of the biggest threats comes from the neo-liberal corporatisation of the academy. This, despite what India needs is increased public funding for education; greater autonomy for a more inclusive education; and above all, environments that cultivate capacities to think, talk, and raise questions without the fear of being branded ‘anti-national’, ‘seditious’, or any of the other such epithets that have entered the vocabulary of an increasingly polarised political ecosystem.
This story was originally published in thehinducentre.com. Read the full story here.
