(नयी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति – २०२०)

बहु-विषयक एवं  समग्र शिक्षा के माध्यम से ज्ञान का एकीकरण

 प्रो. (डॉ.) गीर मोहम्मद इस्हाक़

 राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति (NEP-2020) के अन्तर्गत शिक्षार्थियों के चरित्र, व्यक्तित्व, बुद्धि, काया, सकारात्मक अंतर्दृष्टि और दृष्टिकोण के निर्माण और उन्हें बहुमुखी और सम्पूर्ण व्यक्तियों में बदलने के लिए बहु- विषयक एवं  समग्र शिक्षा का कार्यान्वयन किया जायेगा।  

राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति (NEP-2020) देश में शिक्षा प्रदान करने के तरीके में एक आदर्श और क्रांतिकारी बदलाव लाने का प्रयास करती है। यह विश्वविद्यालयों, कॉलेजों, आईआईएम, आईआईटी, एनआईटी आदि जैसे एकल शैक्षणिक संस्थानों सहित उच्च शिक्षा के सभी संस्थानों में बहु-विषयक शिक्षा को बढ़ावा देने की परिकल्पना करता है। शिक्षा की सभी धाराओं को बहु-विषयक  (multi-disciplinary) रूप में परिवर्तित करने का मुख्य उद्देश्य बहु-आयामी, सभी प्रकार के ज्ञान, कौशल, दक्षताओं और जीवन, लोगों, स्थानों, कलाओं, विज्ञानों, भाषाओं और प्रौद्योगिकियों के बारे में जानकारी से लैस व्यक्ति अच्छी तरह से तैयार करना है। क्षमता निर्माण, क्षमताओं को बढ़ाने, दृष्टिकोण को आकार देने, योग्यता और दक्षता को बढ़ावा देने, प्रेरणा में सुधार के अलावा, चरित्र, व्यक्तित्व, बुद्धि, काया, सकारात्मक अंतर्दृष्टि और शिक्षार्थियों के दृष्टिकोण के निर्माण करने के लिए बहु-विषयक  शिक्षा का प्रदान किया जायेगा जिस से उन्हें तर्कसंगत, दयालु और देखभाल करने वाले नागरिक, बनाया जायेगा एंव उन्हें एक समृद्ध विरासत को पीछे छोड़ने और समाज को एक सकारात्मक रूप में वापस योगदान करने में सक्षम बनाया जायेगा। शिक्षा को ऐसे हरफनमौला तैयार करनें चाहिए जो जीवन के हर क्षेत्र में विजेता की तरह सेवा करें। यही बहु-विषयक और समग्र शिक्षा का उद्देश्य है जिसको नेप-२०२० के नए युग में कार्यान्वित किया जाएगा। 

बहु-विषयक और समग्र शिक्षा का उद्देश्य एकीकृत तरीके से बौद्धिक, सामाजिक, शारीरिक, भावनात्मक, पारस्परिक, मानवतावादी और नैतिकता सहित मानव की विविध क्षमताओं का विकास करना है। इस प्रकार की शिक्षा बहुमुखी और सर्वगुण सम्पूर्ण व्यक्तियों को विकसित करने में मदद करेगी, जो कला, भाषा, विज्ञान, सामाजिक विज्ञान, पेशेवर, तकनीकी और व्यावसायिक क्षेत्रों सहित विभिन्न धाराओं में इक्कीसवीं सदी के कौशल और क्षमताओं से सुसज्जित हैं। बहु-विषयक शिक्षा का उद्देश्य सामाजिक समन्वय एवं सामंजस्य की पदोन्नति करना और ऐसे व्यक्तियों को विकसित करना है जिनके पास संचार कौशल, कार्य और जीवन कौशल, संख्यात्मक साक्षरता, भाषा और आईटी प्रवीणता (डिजिटल साक्षरता), चर्चा और बहस करने की क्षमता, गंभीर विश्लेषण करने की क्षमता, सही दिशा में सोचने के लिए अभिविन्यास जैसे मूलभूत कौशल हों और जिनमें अध्ययन के अपने चुने हुए क्षेत्र में विशेषज्ञता प्राप्त करने के अलावा, रचनात्मक और नवप्रवर्तन की पर्याप्त  क्षमता मौजूद हो। इस प्रकार की बहु-विषयक और समग्र शिक्षा को समयबद्ध तरीके से सभी स्नातक और स्नातकोत्तर कार्यक्रमों में अपनाया जाएगा, जिनमें पेशेवर, तकनीकी और व्यावसायिक विषय भी शामिल हैं। कुछ लोग सवाल उठाते हैं कि किसी व्यक्ति के लिए प्रत्येक क्षेत्र में विशेषज्ञ होना व्यावहारिक रूप से कैसे संभव है, उनका मानना हैं कि ऐसा करने से कई विषयों का ओवरलैप हो सकता है जिससे किसी प्रकार की अराजकता हो सकती है। यहां यह स्पष्ट करने की आवश्यकता है कि अनिवार्य रूप से कौशल अधिग्रहण के पांच चरण होते हैं जैसे कि नौसिखयापन, उन्नत शुरुआत, सक्षमता, कुशलता और विशेषज्ञता। बहुविषयक और समग्र शिक्षा सभी को हर चीज में विशेषज्ञ बनाने की परिकल्पना नहीं करती है बल्कि इसका उद्देश्य शिक्षार्थियों को हर चीज के बारे में सब कुछ, कुछ के बारे में कई चीजें और एक चीज के बारे में सब कुछ समझना और जानना है। यह उन्हें कई क्षेत्रों में जानकार और सक्षम बनाने की परिकल्पना करती  है, लेकिन उन्हें विशेषज्ञता केवल एक चुने हुए क्षेत्रों में ही मिल पायेगी। छात्रों को अनुसंधान के साथ स्नातकोत्तर कार्यक्रमसे में एक प्रमुख और दो छोटे विषयों का चयन करने के बाद स्नातक स्तर पर ऑनर्स या शोध के साथ एक या दो साल का चयन करना होगा। इस प्रकार की बहु-विषयक शिक्षा शिक्षार्थियों को आजीवन, निरंतर आत्म-जागरूकता, आत्म-खोज और आत्म-बोध की एक सतत प्रक्रिया के माध्यम से आगे बढ़ाएगी। 

दुनिया में मौजूद कई सामाजिक, सांस्कृतिक, आर्थिक, जनसांख्यिकीय, पारिस्थितिक, पर्यावरणीय और भौगोलिक समस्याओं के लिए बहु-विषयक दृष्टिकोण की आवश्यकता है। वर्ष २०२० की नयी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति (NEP-2020) के अनुसार कला और विज्ञान के बीच, पाठ्यचर्या और पाठ्येतर गतिविधियों के बीच, व्यावसायिक और शैक्षणिक धाराओं के बीच कोई बोझिल अलगाव या विभाजन नहीं होना चाहिए। विषयों के बीच व्यर्थ पदानुक्रम को खत्म करने और सीखने के विभिन्न क्षेत्रों के बीच कक्षों को खत्म करने के लिए, NEP-2020 प्रत्येक विध्यार्थी की अनूठी क्षमताओं को विधिवत रूप से पहचानने और पोषण करने के अलावा ज्ञान की एकता और अखंडता को बढ़ावा देने के व्यापक उद्देश्य के साथ साथ बहु-विषयक  और समग्र शिक्षा को बढ़ावा देती है। यह नीति शैक्षणिक और गैर-शैक्षणिक क्षेत्रों में प्रत्येक छात्र के समग्र विकास को बढ़ावा देने के लिए शिक्षकों के साथ-साथ माता-पिता को भी संवेदनशील बनाने पर ध्यान केंद्रित करती है।  इस नीति के अनुसार वर्ष 2040 तक, सभी उच्च शिक्षा संस्थानों को बहु-विषयक संस्थान बनाने का प्रयास किया जाएगा, जिनमें से प्रत्येक में 3000 या अधिक छात्र होंगे। वर्ष 2030 तक देश के हर जिले में कम से कम एक बड़े बहु-विषयक शिक्षा और अनुसंधान विश्वविद्यालय (एमईआरयू) होंगे और वर्ष 2035 तक IIT, IIM, NIT सहित सभी स्टैंडअलोन शैक्षणिक संस्थानों को बहु-विषयक शैक्षणिक संस्थानों में परिवर्तित करने का प्रयास किया जायेगा। NEP-2020 दस्तावेज़ के अनुसार “बहु-विषयक शिक्षा का एक और उद्देश्य भारत में गहरी जड़ें और गर्व की भावना पैदा करना होगा। इसकी समृद्ध संस्कृति, लोकाचार, परंपराओं, विविधता और विज्ञान, गणित, साहित्य और ज्ञान की दुनिया में योगदान की समझ बढ़ाना और सराहना करना है। यह व्यक्तिगत उपलब्धि और ज्ञान, रचनात्मक सार्वजनिक जुड़ाव और समाज में उत्पादक योगदान के माध्यम से गुणवत्तापूर्ण शिक्षा को बढ़ावा देगी।” 

बहु-विषयक शिक्षा और अनुसंधान के क्षेत्र में कदम रखते हुए हमें उन परिसीमाओं को ध्वस्त करने की जरूरत है जिनमें शिक्षाविद अब तक कार्य करते आरहे हैं और उन कक्षों को भंग कर देना चाहिए जिनमें ज्ञान सीमित हुवा है। ज्ञान एक सागर है जिसकी कोई सीमा नहीं है और इसलिए इसे कक्षों में सीमित नहीं किया जा सकता है। अपने विषय और अनुशासन-विशिष्ट साम्राज्यों से ऊपर उठकर, शिक्षाविदों को एकीकृत, सहयोगी, अंतर-अनुशासनात्मक अनुसंधान से जुड़े समस्याओं को साथ मिलकर समग्र समाधान तैयार करने की आवश्यकता है, ताकि एक साथ सामना की जा रही इन समस्याओं के कई आयामों को संबोधित किया जा सके और उन्हें हल करके इस दुनिया को रहने के लिए एक बेहतर जगह बनाया जिसके। एक धारणा यह भी है कि संकीर्ण अनुशासक, जो जीवन भर ज्ञान के केवल एक विषय (discipline) का अध्ययन करते हैं, वही अक्सर ऐसी गलतियाँ करते हैं जिन्हें दो या दो से अधिक विषयों से परिचित लोगों द्वारा सबसे अच्छी तरह से चिन्हित किया जासकता है। इसलिए, "ज्ञान की समग्रता और एकीकृता या "अनुशासनात्मकहीनता (undisciplinarianism)" समय की आवश्यकता है और इस विषय पर मंथन करना NEP-2020 का एक महत्वपूर्ण उद्देश्य है। यहां तक ​​​​कि वेदों और अन्य प्राचीन धार्मिक ग्रंथों, हदीसों, पवित्र कुरान के छंदों में ज्ञान की एकता और अखंडता का प्रचार किया गया हैं और हमें प्रकृति को समग्र रूप से अन्वेषण करने और सभी प्रकार के ज्ञान की तलाश करने के लिए प्रेरित करते हैं। 

सहयोगी विभागों के बीच प्रभाव संतुलन, संचार का स्तर और आंतरिक संपर्क के आधार पर बहु-विषयकता के कई स्तर और रूप होते हैं जिनमें ट्रांस(trans)-डिसिप्लिनरी, अंतर(inter)-डिसिप्लिनरी, क्रॉस(cross)-डिसिप्लिनरी, प्लुरि (Pluri)- डिसिप्लिनरी और बहु(multi)-डिसिप्लिनरी शिक्षा शामिल हैं। यह केवल विविध धाराओं का मेल नहीं होना चाहिए बल्कि एक प्रभावी, सार्थक, उत्पादक और उपयोगी एकीकरण होना चाहिए जो लक्ष्यों की सहक्रियात्मक सिद्धि के लिए अग्रणी हो। समाजशास्त्रीय दृष्टिकोण से 'ट्रांसडिसिप्लिनारिटी' 'मल्टीडिसिप्लिनारिटी' की तुलना में उपयोग करने के लिए एक बेहतर शब्द है, हालांकि कमोबेश दोनों का तात्पर्य एक ही है। वे कॉलेज जिनके पास वर्तमान में विविध धाराओं से संबंधित विभिन शिक्षण संकाय और विभाग हैं तेजी से विकसित हो सकते हैं और बहु- विशयिक शैक्षणिक संस्थानों के रूप में उभर सकते हैं, जबकि कम विभाग वाले और विषयों में कम विविधता वाले कॉलेज क्लस्टर बना सकते हैं और छात्रों को बहु-विषयक शिक्षा प्रदान करने के लिए सहयोग कर सकते हैं, बशर्ते उनकी भौगोलिक स्थिति, स्थान और एक दूसरे से दूरी विचार विमर्श के पक्ष में हो। ऐसे महाविद्यालयों के दूरस्थ स्थानों की स्थिति में, अनुसूचियां और समय सारिणी इस तरह से तैयार की जा सकती हैं कि विभिन्न कॉलेजों से बारी-बारी से सीखने में सहायता मिलती हो, ऐसी स्तिथि में एक निश्चित समय में एक स्थान पर एक विषय को पूरा करना और फिर अगला संस्थान पर शिफ्ट करना विचाराधीन रखना चाहिए। कहते हैं 'जहाँ चाह है वहाँ राह है'। इसके कार्यान्वयन में आने वाली हर बाधा को दूर किया जा सकता है बशर्ते हमारे पास ऐसा करने की इच्छा शक्ति, दृढ़संकल्प और प्रेरणा हो। 

वर्तमान में हम नयी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति के कार्यान्वयन चरण में हैं और इसकी आलोचना का समय समाप्त हो गया है। इस स्तर पर चर्चा की गुंजाइश केवल उन तरीकों और साधनों के संबंध में है जिनके द्वारा हम नीति को सकल रूप से लागू कर सकते हैं। नीति कार्यान्वयन के वैचारिक ढांचे के अनुसार इसके कार्यान्वयन के दौरान उभरने वाली किसी भी विसंगतियों, कमियों या समस्याओं का नीति समीक्षा, निरंतर निगरानी और संशोधन के अंतिम चरण के दौरान समाधान किया जा सकता है। इसलिए वर्तमान में हम सभी को अपनी सामूहिक बुद्धिमता और नीति को सफलतापूर्वक लागू करने के लिए एक कार्य योजना तैयार करने के लिए ईमानदारी से प्रयास करने की आवश्यकता है। सभी उच्च शिक्षण संस्थानों को अपने परिवर्तन के क्षेत्रों की पहचान करने, उन्हें प्राथमिकता देने, उनकी जरूरतों और बाधाओं का आकलन करने और अच्छी तरह से परिभाषित लघु, मध्य और दीर्घकालिक लक्ष्यों के माध्यम से अपनी नीति कार्यान्वयन की रणनीति बनाने के लिए अपनी संस्थागत विकास योजनाएं (आईडीपी) तैयार करने की आवश्यकता है। उन्हें अपने लक्ष्य निर्धारित करने, स्वयं के लक्ष्य संकेतक और मील के पत्थर सुन्योजित करने और उनकी समयबद्ध तरीके से उपलब्धि के लिए समय सीमा तय करने और नीति के कार्यान्वयन के लिए अपने स्टाफ सदस्यों को भूमिकाएं और जिम्मेदारियां सौंपने की आवश्यकता है। इस नीति को लागू करने में अपनी ताकत, कमजोरियों अवसरों और चुनौतियों से अवगत होने के लिए प्रत्येक संस्थान को अपना एसडब्ल्यूओसी विश्लेषण (SWOC Analysis) करने की आवश्यकता है। नीति के कार्यान्वयन के साथ आगे बढ़ने के लिए उन्हें संबंधित विभागों और अधिकारियों के समक्ष बुनियादी ढांचे, जनशक्ति, वित्त पोषण, वैधानिक अनुमोदन आदि के साथ अपनी आवश्यकताओं को प्रस्तुत करने की ज़रूरत है। हालांकि इस समय यह थोड़ा मुश्किल लग सकता है, लेकिन अपनी कड़ी मेहनत और दृढ़ संकल्प के बल पर हम निश्चित रूप से अपने लक्ष्यों को प्राप्त कर सकते हैं ।

(यह लेख 27 जून 2022 को गवर्नमेंट कॉलेज फॉर विमेन, एम ए रोड, श्रीनगर में जम्मू-कश्मीर के उच्च शिक्षा विभाग द्वारा आयोजित "एनईपी -2020: तैयारी और कार्यान्वयन" पर दो दिवसीय राष्ट्रीय सम्मेलन के दौरान लेखक द्वारा दिए गए एक भाषण के अंशों पर आधारित है - लेखक फार्मास्युटिकल साइंसेज विभाग, कश्मीर विश्वविद्यालय में पढ़ाते हैं)

NIRF Ranking: Need for integration of institutional assessment and accreditation systems

Areas like regional diversity, intellectual property rights, online education, footprint of projects and professional practices, assistance for economically, socially and physically challenged students, financial resource mobilization and their utilization need immediate attention for gaining higher scores in the next cycle

While India has made considerable progress since independence in enhancing access of its citizens to higher education and the number of higher education institutions in the country has increased manifold, quality of higher education has continued to remain a serious concern for a pretty long time as a result of which excellence continues to remain elusive as a distant dream till date. With a view to address these very concerns related to quality and excellence in higher education, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established by the University Grants Commission in the year 1994 for evaluating the performance, assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions in the country. At around the same time, National Board of Accreditation (NBA) was established by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in the year 1994, with the objectives of assurance of quality and relevance of the professional and technical programmes offered by educational institution from diploma to post-graduate level in engineering and technology, management, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and catering technology and other related disciplines duly approved by the AICTE. “Memorandum of Association” and Rules of NBA were amended in April 2013 to make it administratively and financially independent of AICTE. This was followed by the institution of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) by then Ministry of Human Resource Development in the year 2015. The parameters broadly covered under NIRF ranking include “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”. Based on this framework first ever national level ranking of institutions was released on April 4^th, 2016. On the other hand, assessment and accreditation criteria covered under NAAC include “Curricular Aspects”, “Teaching, Learning and Evaluation”, “Research, Innovations and Extension”, “Infrastructure and Learning Resources”, “Student Support and Progression”, “Governance, Leadership and Management” and “Institutional Values and Best Practices”. 

While releasing the outcome of NIRF ranking 2022 on July 15 this year at an impressive function held in New Delhi, Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan reiterated that only those universities and colleges having NAAC grading or NIRF ranking will be eligible for inclusion in the list maintained by the University Grants Commission of India under Section 12B of the UGC Act, 1956 for the purpose of receiving financial assistance thus making it imperative for all institutions of higher learning to get themselves assessed and accredited by NIRF and/or NAAC for receiving financial assistance from the concerned ministry and UGC. He further announced in his address that by next year Ministry of Education will integrate institutional assessment and accreditation that is being currently undertaken by NAAC, NBA and NIRF and bring it under the ambit of NIRF including rankings finalized by AICTE on the basis of innovations. He also declared that NIRF ranking categories will also include innovation and entrepreneurship and the ranking of ITIs, Polytechnics and individual schools of various universities will also be undertaken from next year. Though all these progressive measures are highly appreciated and welcome, in light of the implementation of new National Education Policy that is being carried out at present, need of the hour is to bring all these ranking and accreditation systems under one umbrella of National Accreditation Council (NAC) that is already slated to be established as one of the verticals of the upcoming National Higher Education Commission (NHEC) of India, under the aegis of NEP-2020. In either case evolving the best possible criteria by integrating the assessment and accreditation parameters of all three of them assumes immense importance. 

One may ask, after all, what is the need for their integration? Most important stakeholders and aspects of higher education are the students who are taught followed by teachers who teach, curriculum that is taught, teaching pedagogy (how they are taught) and the available infrastructure where they are taught. While NIRF ranking parameters address most of the aspects concerning students, teaching, teachers, research, evaluation, infrastructure, inclusivity and peer perception, aspects related to the curriculum design, development, planning, implementation, flexibility and enrichment besides institutional best practices and distinctiveness are not considered at all while evaluating the performance and ranking of a higher educational institution whereas these aspects are not only duly considered under NAAC accreditation but are also given sufficient weightage making it the most comprehensive and reliable accreditation for higher education in India. Further the NAAC accreditation gives 70% weightage to quantitative parameters and 30% weightage to qualitative parameters whereas NIRF ranking gives 100% weightage to quantitative parameters only and leaves no scope for spot visit of the institution by peer team members to physically assess its qualitative parameters unlike NAAC. Though the aim of this write up is not to draw a comparison between NIRF ranking and NAAC accreditation or to show which one is better than the other, the main objective of this piece is to suggest how assessment and accreditation on the whole can be made more comprehensive, inclusive and credible through integration. Two more important parameters that are conspicuously missing out in the evaluation process used for NIRF Ranking are placement of students and community outreach and extension activities. While “Graduate Outcome” (GO) parameter includes metrics for the number of students having passed the university examination and number of scholars having completed their doctorate only, it gives no weightage whatsoever to their placement, continuing professional development and their participation in extra-curricular activities. Similarly, the parameter for “Outreach and Inclusivity” only includes metrics like regional diversity, women’s diversity, financial assistance to economically, socially and physically challenged students and ignores community outreach and extension activities altogether. Furthermore, alumni networking and engagement, innovation ecosystem and extension activities are also not covered under NIRF that are otherwise some of the most important aspects of higher education system. Leaving behind such significant criteria in the process of scoring and accreditation can have ill-informing consequences on the final ranking of the institutions and can sometimes lead to drawing wrong conclusions too. Therefore, their integration seems to be the best way out. 

Upon having a cursory look at the sub-category scores obtained by some of the top-ranking institutions of the country under NIRF-2022, it becomes evident that most of them are not scoring high in terms of parameters like regional diversity, intellectual property rights, online education, footprint of projects and professional practices, financial assistance for economically, socially and physically challenged students, financial resource mobilization and their utilization and therefore need to work harder on these very parameters. Marginal gains in the remaining parameters ultimately settles their mutual ranking at the national level. It is high time that our higher educational institutions start working on those parameters in which they have been consistently scoring low and right away start devising and taking necessary measures to score better in these areas next year. More emphasis needs to be laid upon registration of patents, mobilization and optimum utilization of financial resources, offering more online courses, attracting foreign students, offering more financial assistance to economically, socially and physically challenged students, creating more opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship including promotion of start-ups, fostering greater collaboration with national and foreign universities and creating a niche for themselves through institutional best practices and distinctiveness like green campus initiative, solar energy utilization, paperless e-governance, workflow automation, village level social work, community adoption, student and staff welfare measures, innovative teaching and evaluation methods, robust mentor-mentee system, alumni networking and engagement, multi-disciplinary education and research. Peer perception carries the highest 100 marks (with a weightage of 0.1) in NIRF ranking and therefore deserves greater attention too. This mainly includes perception of the institution among academic peers and employers though a good perception among students and common masses is equally important for an educational institution to thrive and that can be enhanced by making our education and research locally and socially relevant and context-specific, thereby increasing their societal impact, acceptance and credibility. 

To conclude there is a need to integrate all existing assessment, accreditation and ranking systems like NAAC, NIRF, NBA, AISHE etc into one fool-proof and credible system under NAC that should be in tune with time-tested, well-established, best international practices, norms and standards taking into consideration overall progress and performance of the institution in all spheres of education, evaluation, research, community outreach, extension, consultancy and innovation. Further the new parameters and criteria for assessment and accreditation must be comprehensive, holistic, all-encompassing, societal impact and learning-outcome oriented that will take into consideration various goals and objectives of the new National Education Policy of 2020 too and will eventually assess the higher education institutions on accomplishment of these very goals because unless the objectives of NEP-2020 are integrated with assessment, accreditation, ranking and subsequent financial support to the higher education institutions, it will be difficult to accomplish those objectives in a time-bound and effective manner, making the implementation of NEP-2020 somewhat sluggish. Until NAC is put into place by NHEC of India under the aegis of NEP-2020 our higher educational institutions need to strive hard on their NAAC grading and NIRF ranking on a war-footing basis because this will set their stage for re-imaging themselves and emerging as global universities with international standards of education and research. 

NEP-2020: Unifying Knowledge through Multi-disciplinary and Holistic Education

Multi-disciplinary education will be offered to build character, persona, intellect, physique, positive insights and outlooks of learners and transform them into versatile and well-rounded individuals 

National Education Policy (NEP-2020) seeks to bring a paradigm shift and a revolutionary change in the way education is being imparted in the country. It envisages to promote multidisciplinary education at all institutions of higher learning including universities, colleges, standalone educational institutions like IIMs, IITs, NITs etc. Main aim behind converting all streams of education into multi-disciplinary form is to produce multi-dimensional well-rounded individuals equipped with all types of knowledge, skills, competencies and know-how about life, people, places, arts, sciences, languages and technologies too. Apart from building capacities, enhancing abilities, shaping attitudes, promoting aptitude and proficiency, improving motivation and efficiency, multi-disciplinary education will be offered to build character, persona, intellect, physique, positive insights and outlooks of learners and transform them into ethical, rational, compassionate and caring citizens, while at the same time preparing them for rewarding and contributing employment that enables them to leave a rich legacy behind and pay back to the society in one positive form or the other. Education must create all-rounders who serve like champions in every walk of life. That is the aim and objective of multidisciplinary and holistic education that will be offered in the NEP-2020 era.

Multidisciplinary and holistic education aims to develop diverse capacities of human beings including intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, interpersonal, humanistic and moral capacities in an integrated manner. This type of education will help develop versatile and well-rounded individuals who are well-equipped with twenty first century skills and capacities in diverse streams including arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, professional, technical and vocational fields, who nurture an ethic of social engagement, who possess foundational soft skills like communication skills, work and life skills, quantitative aptitude (numerical literacy), language and IT proficiency (digital literacy), ability to discuss and debate, capacity to critically analyse things, orientation to think creatively and innovate, apart from obtaining specialization in their chosen field of study. This type of multidisciplinary and holistic education will in due course of time be adopted in all undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, including those in professional, technical and vocational disciplines. Some people raise a question as to how it is practically possible for a person to be an expert in each and every field, fearing that it might lead to an overlap of multiple disciplines causing some kind of confusion and chaos. Here it needs to be clarified that essentially there are five stages of skill acquisition viz., novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and an expert. Multidisciplinary and holistic education does not envisage to make everyone an expert in everything. Rather it aims to make the learners understand and know something about everything, many things about something and everything about one thing. It envisages to make them knowledgeable and competent in several areas but proficient and expert in only one of their chosen areas of specialization, by making a choice of one major and two minor subjects with honours or research at undergraduate level followed by one or two-year post-graduation programme with research. Such type of multidisciplinary education will steer the learners through a lifelong, continuous and an ongoing process of self-awareness, self-discovery and self-actualization. 

Many of the social, cultural, economic, demographic, ecological, environmental and geographical problems existing in the world at present require multi-disciplinary approaches. As per NEP-2020 there have to be no hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams. In order to eliminate pointless hierarchies among disciplines and dismantle silos between different areas of learning, NEP-2020 promotes multi-disciplinary and holistic education with a broader aim to foster unity and integrity of knowledge besides duly recognizing, identifying and nurturing the unique capabilities of every student, by sensitizing teachers as well as parents to promote each student’s holistic development in both academic and non-academic domains. By the year 2040, all higher education institutions shall strive to become multidisciplinary institutions, each of which will have 3000 or more students. There shall, by 2030, be at least one large Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERU) in every district of the country. It seeks to convert all standalone educational institutions including IITs, IIMs, NITs into multidisciplinary educational institutions by the year 2035. As per NEP-2020 document “yet another aim of multidisciplinary education will be to inculcate a sense of deep rootedness and pride in India through an understanding and appreciation of its rich culture, ethos, traditions, diversity and contributions to the world of science, mathematics, literature and knowledge. It will promote quality education through personal accomplishment and enlightenment, constructive public engagement and productive contribution to the society.” 

While stepping into the domain of multidisciplinary education and research we need to demolish the compartments in which academicians have been working so far and dissolve the compartments in which knowledge has been constrained. Knowledge is an ocean that knows no boundaries and hence cannot be confined into compartments. Rising above their subject specific domains and discipline-specific empires, academicians need to intermingle and come up with integrated, collaborative, trans-disciplinary research problems and collectively devise holistic solutions to those problems with a view to simultaneously address multiple dimensions of the problems being faced by the human kind, resolve them and make this world a better place to live. It is said that narrow disciplinarians often commit errors that can be best detected by people familiar with two or more disciplines. Therefore, “undisciplining of knowledge” is a need of the hour and churning out “undisciplinarians”, who don’t follow only one discipline of knowledge throughout their life, is what NEP-2020 intends to achieve. Even Vedas and other ancient religious scriptures, Hadith, verses of Holy Quran profess and preach unity and integrity of knowledge and beseech us to explore nature holistically and seek knowledge of all kinds. 

There are several levels and forms of multi-disciplinarity including trans-disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity, pluri-disciplinarity and multi-disciplinarity depending upon the balance of influence, degree of communication and cross-contact among the collaborating departments. It should not be merely a juxtaposition of diverse streams but an effective, meaningful, productive and fruitful integration leading to synergistic accomplishment of goals and targets. From sociological perspectives ‘transdisciplinarity’ is a better term to use than ‘multidisciplinarity’ though both of them more or less mean the same. Those colleges having multiple departments and teaching faculty belonging to diverse streams at present can swiftly evolve and emerge as multi-disciplinary educational institutions whereas those colleges having fewer departments and lesser diversity in subjects can form clusters and collaborate to offer multidisciplinary education to students provided their geographical location and distance from each other favours the idea. In the event of distant locations of such colleges, schedules and time tables can be framed in a manner that support learning from different colleges on turn-by-turn basis completing one subject at one place at a given point of time and then switching over to the next institution. It is said ‘where there is a will there is a way’. Every hurdle in its implementation can be overcome provided we have the will and motivation to do the same. 

At present we are in the implementation phase of NEP-2020 and the time for its criticism is over. At this stage only scope for discussion is in relation to the ways and means by which we can implement the policy. As per the conceptual framework of policy implementation any discrepancies or shortcomings of the policy that might emerge during the course of its implementation can be addressed during the terminal phase of policy review and revision that follows its implementation and continuous monitoring phase. Therefore, at present we all need to pool our collective wisdom and sincere efforts to chalk out an action plan on how to successfully implement the policy. All higher educational institutions need to prepare their Institutional Development Plans (IDPs) for identifying their areas of change, prioritize them, undertake their needs and constraints assessment and strategize their policy implementation through well-defined short, mid and long-term goals. They need to fix their targets, devise their own target indicators and milestones, fix timelines for achievement of those milestones and assign roles and responsibilities to their staff members for timely implementation of the policy. Every institution needs to undertake its SWOC analysis in order to be aware of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges in implementing this policy. They need to put forth their requirements vis-à-vis infrastructure, manpower, funding, statutory approvals etc before the concerned departments and authorities in order to get going with the implementation of the policy. Though it might appear a bit difficult at this time, however, by dint of our hard-work and determination we will surely achieve our targets. 

(Based on the excerpts from a talk delivered by the author during two-day National Conference on “NEP-2020: Preparedness and Implementation”, organized by the Higher Education Department of J&K at Govt. College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar on June 27, 2022. Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir)

Need to provide psychological counselling to students (International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking)

Psychological counselling can help students identify troubling emotions and disturbing thoughts besides helping them develop coping strategies for the same and thereby staying away from drugs

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or World Drug Day, is marked on June 26 every year with a view to strengthen action and bolster mutual cooperation at international level in achieving a world free of substance abuse. This year’s theme chosen for the day is “Addressing drug challenges in health and humanitarian crises”. This includes global health crisis like COVID-19 and humanitarian crisis like mass exodus of refugees in war-torn situations like those witnessed in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Social, economic, physical, emotional and mental stress produced by these crises push the populations in general and youth in particular towards uncertainty, insecurity, instability and fallibility. As a result, some of the budding youth studying in schools and colleges often tend to make mistakes and wrong decisions in absence of proper guidance and hand-holding. Under peer group pressure or lack of awareness they sometimes try to seek refuge in drugs and other substances of abuse and end up becoming addicts. This underlines the need to have psychological counsellors at all educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities who can patiently listen to the youngsters, try to understand their mental health needs, offer them coping strategies for overcoming stress and other deviations from normal behaviour through psychological counselling. 

According to estimates and alerts put forth by the World Health Organization (WHO), “Worldwide one in seven children aged between 10 to 19 years experience a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group. Depression, anxiety and behavioural disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents. Adolescents with mental health conditions are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, discrimination, stigma that in turn affects their readiness to seek help, educational difficulties, risk-taking behaviours, physical and mental ill-health. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide among 15-19 year-old children. Therefore, the consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions can extend to adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting their opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults. Physical, emotional and social changes, including exposure to poverty, abuse, or violence, can make adolescents vulnerable to mental health problems. Protecting adolescents from adversity, promoting socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and ensuring access to mental health care are critical for their health and well-being during adolescence and adulthood.” 

In this regard psychological counsellors at pre-primary school level can identify and help children suffering from disorders like schizophrenia, anxiety and panic disorders, phobias, mood disorders like bipolar disorder, eating disorder, autism, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders or learning disabilities. Since parents are not medically trained to notice the symptoms and diagnose these disorders, barring a few of them who are psychiatrists by profession, they often fail to identify these disorders and get timely medical intervention for the same, often leading to increasing severity and progressive complications with advancing age.  Availability of a psychological counsellor at school can ensure constant observation of kids through their class teachers leading to timely diagnosis and early treatment of psychological disorders besides better outcomes of education. 

High school level marks the beginning of adolescence, a tumultuous and transformative phase in the lives of children. This is the time when they begin to have their own likes, dislikes, outlooks and perceptions about issues, people, ideologies and surroundings, develop their own perspectives and desire to take their own decisions. At this stage it becomes important to channelize their curiosity, enthusiasm and energy towards the right direction through proper guidance and mentoring, in absence of which they may seek recourse in drugs, substances of abuse, bad company, illegal activities and sometimes even fall prey to anti-social elements without realizing its ill effects on their career and future life. Furthermore, the parental pressure to perform well in the examinations, secure a high percentage of marks, steer through cut-throat competitions and secure admissions in a reputed college or university are the prime concerns that they face. To make things worse, traditions of unfair comparisons and unhealthy competitions in the society besides undue expectations of parents put additional burdens on their feeble shoulders. Parents often fail to appreciate the unique personalities and hidden talents of their children and often force them to be a part of the rat race for medical and engineering admissions. All this often leads to immense pressure, frustration, anxiety and depression among the children. Under such circumstances a caring and empathetic psychological counsellor back at school can serve as a pro-social adult for such students who feel frustrated, helpless and rebellious and can adjust their behaviours, help them identify troubling emotions and thoughts besides teaching them develop coping mechanisms and counter strategies for the same using psychotherapy or talk therapy. Psychological counsellors can also counsel the parents of such children, rationalize, balance and align their behaviour and expectations in the right direction, thus helping the students get relieved from their unbearable burdens of unrealistic expectations. 

At college level, students feel quite exuberant with enthusiasm and energy. This is an enthralling and exhilarating phase that marks a new turn in the life of a student towards his future. Experience of the new place, new people, new classmates, new environment and a new life can sometimes be difficult for a few to handle particularly those with a shy and introvert kind of personality. New ambience could throw new challenges of social behaviour, networking, intermingling and forming new friendships and relations besides issues related to self-esteem for some students that in turn could cause stress, social anxiety, depression, abnormal behaviour and unusual thoughts. Under such circumstances having a psychological counsellor could be a very helpful source of support for such students where they can get counselling regarding their career, courses, relationships, adapting to the new atmosphere and in tackling personal emotional and mental health issues. Such kind of psychological counselling could boost their morale and improve their performance in their chosen stream and help them overcome their inhibitions, constraints and limitations in their participation in extra-curricular activities like sports, music, fine arts, winter and summer camps, hiking, mountaineering, nature exploration etc. They can be counselled about social anxiety issues, substance abuse and day-to-day stress. Appropriate professional help could help them receive suitable medical and non-medical interventions wherever needed and thereby shine in their career without falling prey to anti-social and immoral activities. This way they will be well-equipped to handle such challenges and be mentally strong to face them upfront. 

As per WHO, on an average 34 students committed suicide every day worldwide during the year 2020 as a result of examination pressure, competition, relationship issues etc. Therefore, it becomes very important to provide necessary psychological support to students at their educational institutions where psychological counsellors can help them cope up with the pulls and pressures and guide them in improving and maintaining their mental health. COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected the physical activity and mental health of young adults as their schools and colleges remained shut for a prolonged period as a result of which many students felt isolated, unattended and disconnected with their friends and relatives that in turn caused an even more adverse impact on their mental health. Now after reopening of schools and colleges, students need help to adapt to the new normal lest they will exhibit abnormal behaviours. Clinical psychologists can detect any deviant behaviours, learning disabilities and similar issues. Subsequently they can collaborate with their parents and teachers to devise coping strategies that can help such students overcome their stress. Psychological counsellors can guide students in improving their emotional intelligence. They can also teach them important life and work skills like communication skills, interpersonal socializing skills, time management skills, goal-setting skills etc., that will help the students in maintaining balance and achieving academic success. World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a school mental health program (SMHP) for the well-being of school children. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has also made it mandatory to have counsellors in CBSE schools. Though over past few years many educational institutions have hired mental health professionals to support their students, still many schools and colleges seem to be jittery and reluctant to have mental health professionals on their campuses and are ending up providing only mental health and drug de-addiction awareness programs to their students. No doubt educational institutions will have to pay handsome salaries while hiring psychological counsellors, yet it will be really worth owing to the huge benefits and returns that they bring to the institute and its students. Therefore, all educational institutions must have psychological counsellors to support students in managing their mental health and staying away from drugs and other substances of abuse. At the same time policy framed by the govt. of J&K for drug de-addiction and rehabilitation needs to be implemented in letter and spirit.