Siddharth Dubey
The National Policy on Education was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992. Since then several changes have taken place that calls for a revision of the Policy. The Government of India would like to bring out a National Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regards to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry. For the first time, the Government of India is embarking on a time-bound grassroots consultative process, which will enable the Ministry of HRD to reach out to individuals across the country through over 2.75 lakh direct consultations while also taking input from citizens online.
The objective of the consultation process is to ensure that an inclusive, participatory and holistic approach is undertaken, which takes into consideration expert opinions, field experiences, empirical research, stakeholder feedback, as well as lessons learned from best practices.
Traditionally, previous Commissions for driving Education Policy have undertaken a common approach which included the top down approach based on setting up expert task force, working groups and/or sub-committees.
It is recommended that a time-bound, bottom-up consultative process is undertaken which will be driven by a multi-stakeholder task force at the National Level. Such an approach will enable the Ministry of HRD to reach out to individuals across the country through over 2.75 lakh direct consultations while also taking input from citizens online.
The aim is to create independent quality assurance frameworks to address the quality deficit in the higher educational institutions. Setting up of an Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) is one such mechanism to ensure quality within the institutional framework and linking it with the standards set by the quality assurance agencies. The focus is on: A governance structure where in appointment of Professors are through transparent and competitive process. Restructuring the existing regulatory bodies and relook at their multiplicity in a rationalized manner. Need to re-align the regulatory functioning in such a way as to promote autonomy of institutions. This approach envisages that we embrace a paradigm shift from to Facilitation rather than regulation; Single point clearances for grants and clearances; encourage global quality institutions. Autonomy of institutions would also be achieved by conferring degree granting powers to colleges and conferring autonomous status on colleges. In order to ensure horizontal and vertical mobility of students, we need to ensure that uniformity is achieved in terms of syllabi and curricula through a framework; Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) is adopted by all institutions. Need to revisit the issue of multiplicity of entrance and eligibility examinations and explore the possibility of a single national test. Permitting foreign education providers in India for proper regulation and internationalization of education by enhanced collaborations. Norm based funding of higher education rather than subjective demand based inspection governed funding. UGC is the main vehicle of routing funds to central and state Universities and colleges for funding. Adopting a norm based funding approach could be considered for improving efficiency in grant disbursals.
There have been debates and discussions on the state public higher education system within the country and recognition of the dire need to change, restructure and reform them. The issues range from the appointment of Vice Chancellors in the state public universities, to those of affiliating system and the governance. There is heavy bureaucratization in the universities. There is severe shortage of teachers and teachers are appointed on ad hoc positions are ill equipped to manage teaching and research on paltry payments to them. The universities are not autonomous in their decision making. The regulations and all academic reform agenda imposed on the state public universities are either burdensome or are not monitored properly. There is a system of accreditation of universities and colleges to improve quality, yet the public higher education has not much responded to it. The state public universities suffer from severe public resource crunch and this has led to the proliferation of self financing courses. Some of the colleges in the public university system are no doubt of very high academic standards, yet there are colleges in rural and semi urban locations which are languishing. There is no systemic thinking to improve the efficiency and working of the colleges. There is too much politicization and it is becoming an unattractive destination for job seekers who prefer to join corporate jobs. The standards of research in the public universities are very poor. The doctorates being awarded in these universities are of poor quality. The teachers have also lack of opportunities to promote research. There is also a proliferation of private universities in the state in recent years and there is no robust mechanism for the maintenance of standards in private universities. Hence there is a need to think of systemic reforms in state public universities and colleges.
With the impact of technology and globalization on the labor market, the work environment has become more complex, requiring new skills to navigate successfully within a world of work marked by constant change. But the education system is not able to respond to the demands of the labor market. A key issue is to improve the effect in view of the policy priority and harnessing the potential of young people, skill development assumes great importance in the domain of educational planning and management. Several measures can be taken up in linking education and skill development. There are possibilities of aligning and developing skill courses , establishment of Community \Colleges in General Colleges and Polytechnics; The country may start vocational Studies programmers at the under-graduate level and introducing skill credit transfer to facilitate vertical/horizontal mobility, We may introduce KAUSHAL – Bridging Diploma-Degree Divide and promoting region specific skills. Similarly, the Polytechnics education may focus on employable skills.
Keeping in view all benefits of the technology, the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) was approved in 2009 to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all.
The learners in Higher Education Institutions in “any time any where” mode has two major components: providing connectivity, along with provision for access devices, to institutions and learners, content generation.
For an inclusive higher education efforts should be made to eliminate gender disparities and to significantly reduce urban-rural, inter-regional and inter-social group disparities. This will call for a much larger facilitative and promotional role for the central and state governments as well as the private sector in higher education towards the hitherto marginalized sections of the society. Thus the major emphasis of the policy should be on promoting inclusiveness so as to accommodate more students from the marginalized sections into the ambit of higher education.
One of the major constraints is to attract good students as teachers. Invariably teaching profession is not high in the priority list when the graduates look for jobs. The salary levels and facilities provided to the teachers, although increased in the recent past, are less attractive compared to other sectors. Creation of a pool of brightest students is important in the sense that they will ultimately make improvements in teaching learning process.
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