Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded merit-based appointment of vice chancellors and made a strong pitch for independence of universities.
"Attack on educational institutions is a dangerous trend. There is nothing wrong in student politics but interference by political parties is dangerous," he told a gathering of students in Ponda, 30 km from here.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader was speaking at a Goa Dialogues meet, a preparatory process for drafting the party's election manifesto for assembly polls scheduled in early 2017.
"Universities have to be independent from both politics and governance. Interference will have to be stopped," Kejriwal said.
He added that educational institutes in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Jammu were being interfered with by political parties.
"Vice Chancellors are not appointed on merit. Once they are appointed on merit, our universities will also be among the best universities in the world," he said.
--IANS
maya/mr
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