PATNA: In 2004, the then governor of Bihar M Rama Jois had asked Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University to cancel the second class degree of Nepal’s Tribhuvan University English teacher Amar Nath Tiwary for writing a petition “full of grammatical errors”.What will the present governor do when he comes to know about the horrendous English of the present pro-vice-chancellor (pro-VC) of a state university. A glance at the spelling of words used in university files will not only reveal the standard of higher education, but also raise a question on the selection of VCs and pro-VCs. Some pages of the files disposed of by the said pro-VC recently will show how the word ‘backlog’ has been spelled as ‘back lock’, ‘constituted’ as ‘constitued’ and ‘registrar’ as ‘registar’. Similarly, ‘suggestion’ has been written ‘suggesein’, ‘opinion’ as ‘opinian’ and ‘governor’ as ‘governer’.More than once, the pro-VC has scribbled ‘quaries’ in place of ‘queries’ and ‘secretariot’ instead of ‘secretariat’. At one place, he has noted “absent from headquater may be allowed.’ Even the notes given by the pro-VC in Hindi were full of howlers, said a senior university official.One wonders how a pro-VC can write such English or Hindi. Only a university professor, having at least 10 years of experience, is eligible to apply for the post of VC or pro-VC. The appointment is made by the governor on the basis of the recommendations of a search committee consisting of senior academics of national repute.However, according to academics, the said pro-VC is not alone. Quite a number of teachers appointed in different universities during the last two decades cannot write an application in any language correctly.Some time ago, two English lecturers, working in a constituent college of Jehanabad, could not correctly spell the name of William Shakespeare when asked to do so by the then principal of Patna Science College . They had come to science college to evaluate Intermediate answer books.Similarly, a city-based college teacher wrote an application to his ‘principle’ (read principal) for granting him a few days’ leave recently. When the principal drew his attention towards the error, the teacher asserted that he had been writing the same spelling all along and nobody had raised any objection to that! The teacher retired from service a few years back.

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