(From left) PU statistics HoD Amarendra Mishra, Magadh Mahila College teacher Asha Singh, English HoD Arun Kamal, VC SN Singh, former VC SNP Sinha, registrar Vibhash Kumar Yadav, dean of students’ welfare PK Poddar and English teacher Shankar Ashish Dutta at the felicitation programme in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Sept. 5: Patna University (PU) today felicitated the five “role models” selected on the basis of a two-tier assessment conducted by the varsity, leaving a few teachers jittery.

The five teachers — Amarendra Mishra, the head of the postgraduate statistics department, Arun Kamal, the head of the postgraduate English department, Shankar Ashish Dutta, a teacher in the English department, Asha Singh, an economics teacher of Magadh Mahila College, and Meena Kishore, a psychology teacher at Patna Women’s College — were chosen through an excellence assessment and evaluation by students.

The excellence assessment included evaluation of the research work conducted by the teachers, their publications and the seminars they attended. The students, on the other hand, were asked to grade the teachers on a five-point scale. They were told to mark their teachers in a number of categories like how they influenced the students, how the teachers utilised the classes, punctuality of the teachers, their motivational power and knowledge of the subject.

Some teachers were disgruntled with the process of selecting the “role models”, though. Ram Jeevan Bhatt, a physics teacher of BN College, said: “Our college did not receive any letter from the university for selecting role model teachers. Moreover, very little time was provided to the educational institutions to complete the whole process.”

Refuting Bhatt’s accusation, PU dean of students’ welfare P.K. Poddar said all the colleges were given forms for the selection process on August 27. “Patna Women’s College completed the entire process in three days.”

Shambhu Nath Singh, the vice-chancellor of the university, honoured the selected instructors at a Teachers’ Day function in the geology department of the university.

He said: “Students are the biggest stakeholders. Assessment of teachers by students is a move in the right direction.” He added that a committee comprising senior teachers of the university had drawn up a report based on the assessment of the students.

The VC, however, clarified that the purpose of the assessment was not to bring down the morale of the teachers.

“The teachers who have not received a good assessment from the students will not be punished,” he said.

Sudipto Adhikari, the previous VC who was also a member of the selection committee, said: “As a member of the panel, I had recommended that some retired teachers like Ram Bhujan Singh of the Hindi department of BN College, Suresh Nandan Singh, a geography teacher, and Samsad Hussain, a psychology teacher, should also be felicitated.”

Singh, however, was of the opinion that these teachers should be honoured on the Foundation Day of the university on October 1.