Bengal Guv makes surprise visit to CU, inquires about state of affairs

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Monday made a surprise visit to Calcutta University, where he inquired about the state of affairs from Acting Vice Chancellor Asis Kumar Chatterjee.He also discussed the National Education Policy NEP 2020 with principals of affiliated colleges.Bose went to the College Street campus twice.

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Monday made a surprise visit to Calcutta University, where he inquired about the state of affairs from Acting Vice Chancellor Asis Kumar Chatterjee.

He also discussed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with principals of affiliated colleges.

Bose went to the College Street campus twice. He first visited at 11.51 am for 20 minutes before leaving for Raj Bhavan and returning at 2.30 pm when he stayed for an hour, during which he attended a meeting with the VC and principals of 145 affiliated colleges, interacted with students and held a brief meeting with the VC at his office.

The Raj Bhavan, in a statement, said that deans and professors raised the issue of not being able to respond to invitations abroad to attend lectures and presentations due to frugal financial support, to which he sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for teachers to get international exposure.

Chatterjee said the governor came to the campus to know first-hand how the institution was being run and promised to extend help wherever possible.

He said Bose suggested collaboration with foreign higher educational institutions.

Bose presented sweets to the faculty members, non-teaching staffers and students.

A police officer said though it was an unscheduled visit, all necessary security arrangements were put in place.

Bose's visit to the CU campus came a couple of days after the governor, who is also the chancellor of the state varsities, directed the vice-chancellors to submit weekly activity reports to him.

The directive drew a sharp response from the state government with Education Minister Bratya Basu saying the governor's missive without taking the higher education department into confidence has ''no legal validity''. Members of All India Democratic Students' Organisation demonstrated during the governor's visit to the campus in protest against the move to implement NEP, 2020 but Bose did not react and police managed to keep the protestors away.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)