Context

• According to the “Free to Think 2024” annual report published by the Scholars at Risk (SAR) academic freedom monitoring project, India has moved down the Academic Freedom Index rank over the last 10 years.
• The report documented 391 attacks on higher education communities in 51 countries between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.

Academic Freedom Index

• The Academic Freedom Index is a metric that measures how much freedom educational institutions and teachers have in a country or region.
• The index takes into account various factors such as restrictions on educational content, political interference in the hiring and firing of teachers, and students' freedom of expression.
• The index gives a score between 0-1, with 1 indicating the best performance.

The Academic Freedom Index is evaluated based on the following eight components:

1. Freedom of research and education

2. Freedom of academic exchange and dissemination

3. Institutional autonomy, campus integrity

4. Freedom of academic and cultural expression

5. Constitutional protection of academic freedom

6. International legal commitments under academic freedom

7. International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and

8. Survival of universities

India's performance:

• India's academic freedom score falls from 0.6 points in 2013 to just 0.2 points in 2023.
• The report classifies India as "fully restrictive," the country's lowest rank since the mid-1940s.
• Several factors are responsible for this decline, including:
  • Political influence on universities and
  • Restrictions on student protests, etc.