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Corruption charges and the arrest of former vice-chancellor of Bharathiar University still fresh, another controversy erupted on Monday, this time in the form of a video. The clip that surfaced showed the head of the Tamil department receiving money from a person, allegedly for a posting in the university. The state higher education department has decided to send the video to the police department and probe its authenticity as well as the allegations.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is in talks with HRD Ministry, CBSE, AICTE, Medical Council of India (MCI) and other educational bodies to introduce course content on corruption and ethics to make the students aware of the scourge and its consequences. If implemented, students in schools and colleges will soon be imparted lessons on the menace of corruption, its debilitating impact on socio-economic sphere and ways of tackling it.

In the season of examination results and college admissions, we are again reminded of the dismal condition of the Indian education system. The Punjab School Education Board has, in an act of benevolence, granted 30 grace marks to Class 12 students. This helped lift the state’s pass percentage from 54% to 76%. In Gujarat, the pass percentage in Class 10 dropped from 73% in 2014-15 to 63% this year — which the state education minister attributes to the installation of CCTV cameras in examination centres that have checked cheating. Many Class 10 students in Gujarat could not answer elementary questions in a retest, despite securing over 80% in the objective section of the mathematics paper.

Twenty-one people have been arrested after US authorities set up a fake university to expose immigration fraud. Officials said the accused knew that the University of Northern New Jersey did not exist, but they were unaware it was a ruse run by immigration agents. The defendants acted as brokers for more than 1,000 foreigners who sought to maintain student and work visas, prosecutors said. Most foreign nationals involved in the scheme came from China and India.

Concerned over fake universities duping students in the country, a Parliamentary panel has sought "exemplary" action against such bodies and those who violate UGC guidelines. In another significant observation, the panel focused on issues related to corruption in All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The panel recommended that the HRD ministry improve the accountability and strengthen vigilance mechanism in AICTE.