Patna: The governor of Bihar, Arif Mohammad Khan, has asked all state university vice-chancellors to adopt five villages each and work towards their educational and social development, while also enforcing strict adherence to academic and examination calendars.
Addressing a meeting at Lok Bhawan on Sunday, the governor directed universities to implement the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan effectively, with the aim of raising awareness among villagers on education, environmental protection and collective problem-solving. The adopted villages, he said, should be developed as model villages through sustained institutional engagement.
Khan also instructed vice-chancellors to comply with directions issued by the high court and the state government, and to submit reports on time for questions raised in the Bihar legislative assembly concerning universities and colleges.
During the meeting, the higher education department presented an overview of the sector in Bihar, including updates on digital systems such as the Samarth module and APAR ID, as well as financial matters. Officials informed the gathering that utilisation certificates amounting to Rs 1,371 crore were pending from universities, and urged them to submit the documents at the earliest.
The governor expressed concern over significant delays in academic schedules. It was noted that examinations and result declarations were delayed by 14 to 20 months in several subjects at Jai Prakash University and Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University. Delays of six to eight months were also reported at Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University and Purnea University.
Vice-chancellors were instructed to strictly implement undergraduate and postgraduate academic and examination calendars, ensuring that examinations and results are conducted and published without delay. The governor also asked universities to prepare structured one-year and two-year postgraduate programmes in line with prescribed norms.
The meeting was attended by education minister Sunil Kumar, the principal secretary to the governor Robert L. Chongthu, higher education secretary Rajiv Roshan, the chairman of the Bihar State University Service Commission Girish Kumar Chaudhary, director of higher education N K Agarwal, along with vice-chancellors of state universities and officials from the governor’s secretariat.
