The representatives of different BEd colleges threatened Bangalore University (BU) Task Force Committee chairman and Academic Council member H Karan Kumar in full public view after the Academic Council meeting on Wednesday.
Members from some teacher education colleges gheraoed Karan Kumar and hurled abuses at him. One member shouted, “If you (Karan) continue with what you are doing, then you will face the consequences.” Another BEd college representative threatened, “You want to bring reforms? Come, we will show you the BEd colleges.”
Karan Kumar received threats after he exposed several infrastructure and administrative flaws in various BEd colleges which he has visited as a part of the Task Force work.
Later, speaking to reporters, Karan Kumar said he would write to Vice-Chancellor Dr N Prabhu Dev requesting for additional security. “I will continue doing whatever I am doing, regardless of these threats. I have been threatened earlier when I was told that my hands and legs would be broken,” he said.
The Task Force Committee, which was constituted in May this year to inspect BEd and MEd colleges under the university, will submit its full report on 102 teacher education colleges by October. “We have to visit 87 colleges. The Task Force is giving a maximum of 90 days time for the colleges to explain. What we are doing now is just a fact-finding exercise. We will start issuing notices by January or February,” Karan Kumar said.
He added that the Task Force would recommend all those colleges with at least 50 per cent of compliance to teacher education norms laid down by the university and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
VC Dr N Prabhu Dev, when informed that Karan Kumar was threatened, said, “These colleges (BEd) are scared of being exposed. I have told Karan to seek armed police protection during his visits, either in mufti or uniforms. The university will stand by him.”