SPCSS-TN calls Centre’s higher education bill unconstitutional, demands its withdrawal

The State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN) has written to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), set up to examine the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill 2025, describing the Bill as unconstitutional and demanding its withdrawal.

The Bill, the letter stated, provided for setting up of a Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan along with three councils – Viksit Bharat Shiksha Viniyaman Parishad (regulatory council), Viksit Bharat Gunvatta Parishad (accreditation council), and Viksit Bharat Shiksha Manak Parishad (standards council).

“The Bill proposed for coordination and determination of standards, in effect, not only allows the Union Government to regulate universities, but also facilitates the winding up of universities,” the letter stated. “The Bill is a colourable exercise of power; it takes cover under Entry 66 of List 1 (Seventh Schedule of the Constitution) to enforce legislation that Parliament has no power to enact, in accordance with Entry 32 of List II and Entry 44 of List I,” the letter further noted.

State universities and colleges, especially in States like Tamil Nadu, were established to achieve the objective of social justice. The reservation policy of the state government, highly subsidised fees, and special provisions for women’s education helped the State in universalising higher education.

The letter contended that the National Education Policy 2020 failed to recognise the role of the State universities in the development of India, and the VBSA Bill, 2025 projected that only a centralised regulatory council would be able to ensure high standards in higher education. On the contrary, the centralisation of regulation and one-size-fits-all standardisation and accreditation process would only weaken the State universities and result in the privatisation of education, the letter, undersigned by P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu, General Secretary, SPCSS-TN, further stated.

While the NEP 2020 clearly indicated that the government would not fully fund education, the VBSA Bill, 2025, vested regulatory authority in the union government while leaving the financial responsibility with the State governments. Without adequate funding, state government universities would not be able to compete with private and foreign universities who are allowed to recover costs and repatriate their surpluses, the letter claimed.

Calling the Bill an “Indian version of McCarthyism”, the letter asserted that outcome-based education, vocational skilling while undergoing a degree course, and a thrust on the Indian Knowledge Systems were aimed at creating a cult that would remain subservient to those in power.