Building an egalitarian society through education based on universal human values

National Education Policy 2020 envisages to impart value-based education with a view to actualize full human potential required for building an equitable and just society and promoting national development

Happiness essentially implies to be in a state of complete harmony with one’s own self, one’s family, friends, colleagues and society at large and with one’s nature and surroundings as well. Real happiness is achieved only through natural acceptance and continuity of happiness is possible only with synergy and complete harmony at all levels. That alone will yield permanence in happiness rather than temporary excitement that is short-lived and unsustainable. Similarly, pleasure can also be obtained temporarily through favourable sensation, attention and appreciation but cannot be sustained for long. Prosperity is not same as possession of wealth and material goods. Though physical assets are very much required in life, they alone do not suffice for the lasting happiness and prosperity of human beings therefore dependence on physical assets can’t be reliable. Whereas physical needs alone are sufficient for animals they are not sufficient for human beings. Fundamental difference between animals and human beings is that for human beings relationships are as important as physical needs. Happiness and prosperity are the basic human aspirations that need to be sustainable and unless they are long-lasting and sustainable, they cannot be called as happiness or prosperity in real sense. Material gains can bring temporary excitement and joy but not lasting happiness and prosperity which is only possible through complete harmony at all levels. 

In consonance with one of the primary objectives of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) that seeks to instil deep-rooted pride in being Indian, not only in thought but also in spirit, intellect and deeds as well as to develop knowledge, skills and values that support responsible commitment towards human rights, sustainable development and  global well-being, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) embarked on its journey to develop a comprehensive model curriculum for Universal Human Values (UHVs) that is based on the principles of holistic education aimed at enhancing integrity, dedication, inclusiveness, commitment and harmony among the learners. In its 49th meeting held on 14th March 2017, AICTE approved a mandatory three-week long Student Induction Program (SIP) based on Universal Human Values (UHVs) in order to to prepare newly admitted undergraduate students for the new stage in their life by facilitating a smooth transition from their home and school environment into the college and university environment through various discussions and activities. An appropriate Faculty Development Programme (FDP) was also designed and proposed with a view to prepare the faculty members of colleges and universities for offering this SIP. For this very purpose, AICTE has formed a National Coordination Committee for Student Induction (NCC-IP) and has impressed upon every technical institution of higher education to prepare UHV Faculty in the ratio of 1:20 (1 faculty for every 20 newly admitted students). 

Universal Human Values (UHVs) impart pre-tested and validated foundational skills that are universal, rational, verifiable, all-encompassing and leading to harmony i.e., wellbeing of all. This model has been successfully applied in more than 40 universities in 10 states over the last 17 years and since 2017 all across the nation by AICTE. Holistic, value-based education is required to prepare graduates with desirable attributes that include moral education on values, leading to the development of a holistic and humane world vision; universal human values of truth, love and compassion: Indian constitutional values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity; human rights, sustainable development and sustainable living as well as global well-being. It is believed that Universal Human Values can lead to a holistic and humane world vision and values in tune with the aspirations articulated in NEP-2020. Earlier the general belief used to be that “values cannot be taught, they are caught”, however, experts in the field are now fully convinced that values can be self-discovered through a continuous process of self-exploration and also that they should not only be taught at home or at the school level but need to be incorporated in the higher education curriculum too. Universal Human Values are based on the premise that overall purpose of education is to enable a human being to live a fulfilling and rewarding life, in complete harmony with oneself and with his family, society and nature. UHV-based education enforces a humane world view, vision and perspective that in turn reinforces human values and culture leading to the development of necessary skills for living with acceptable human conduct and ultimately leading to the emergence of a humane society and civilization. 

As per NEP-2020, main purpose of the education system is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. It aims at producing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and pluralistic society as envisaged by our Constitution. The UHV effort is a continuation of the age-old tradition of self-inquiry, self-exploration, self-discovery and self-evolution. The full potential of every human being is achieved by reaching the level of human consciousness and ethical human conduct that would result into lasting happiness and prosperity at the individual level. Such individuals will, very naturally, contribute towards the development of a humane society (ensuring well-being of all), which is equitable and just. Attributes of such individuals would include holistic vision of life, socially responsible behaviour, environmentally responsible work, ethical human conduct, having competence and capabilities for maintaining health and hygiene besides appreciation and aspiration for excellence and gratitude for all. UHV seeks to build an equitable and just society in which the well-being of all is assured. The role of education is to facilitate the development of the competence to live with desirable human conduct by ensuring right understanding, right feeling and right set of skills. Unfortunately, our current education system is focussing only on the skills and not really paying attention to values. Instead of the right feeling, unhealthy competition (feeling of opposition) is getting promoted and instead of skills for prosperity, skills for exploitation are getting promoted. 

Three-week long student induction programme (SIP) is intended to prepare newly admitted undergraduate students for the new stage in their life. During this programme students are taught about the fundamental concepts of trust, respect, mutual understanding, competence and team-work. They are taught that trust is the foundation of any relationship that can only be gained with the feeling that the other person wants to make me happy & prosperous. Only when we trust the intentions of other people, we can establish a relationship with them and prepare a joint program with them based on right evaluation of our mutual competence. In case the other person is lacking in competence, I will make a sincere effort to improve his competence level once he is engaged in a professional relationship with me. Further if I lack competence, I will be ready to take help from the other person to improve my competence. I will evaluate the other person on the basis of his competence. I will not assume the lack of competence in the other person to be the lack of trust in him and thus feel opposed to him. Right evaluation with a feeling of trust yields respect whereas under-evaluation, over-evaluation or wrong evaluation brings disrespect. Discrimination and differentiation also bring disrespect whereas the recognition that the other is like me and we are complementary to each other brings mutual respect. The only difference is in our level of understanding. If the other has more understanding, he is more responsible than me and I must be committed to understand from the other. If I have more understanding, I am more responsible than the other and I must be fully committed to facilitate understanding in the other once the other is engaged in a professional relationship with me. 

United National Sustainable Development Goal No. 16 envisages to promote  peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. In consonance with this SDG, UHVs envisage that for living with a feeling of continuous fulfilment three essential requirements are trust, love and compassion that can only be achieved with the understanding and feeling of relatedness, undividedness, connectedness, coexistence. The right understanding forms the basis of universal human values and facilitates transformation towards a holistic worldview or the ‘human consciousness’. In that sense, this three-week long course is an opportunity to reflect on the need and scope of living in harmony. The target is not just personal transformation, but also the transformation at the societal level. Right understanding provides the basis for a just and humane society. Therefore, it is suggested that all higher education institutions must expose their students, staff and teachers to this Universal Human Values course developed by the AICTE and incorporate it in each and every curriculum too as a three-credit foundation course for all second year (third and fourth semester) students. Only after understanding universal human values (role of human being in existence) can they be in harmony within, and participate meaningfully with other human beings (in family and society) as well as with the rest of nature (the environment, of which s/he is an integral part). So that emphasizes the need for universal human values. Furthermore, moral education in the context of one’s own religion and belief system will also supplement and complement the teaching of UHVs since all religions essentially teach the same values of kindness, compassion, peace, harmony, benevolence, mercy and universal love. 

(This article is based on the learning gained from a five-day online UHV course attended by the author with significant inputs taken from Universal Human Values document prepared by NC-UHV (AICTE) and NCC-IP (AICTE))

India's G20 Presidency: Few suggestions for scheduled deliberations

 Promotion of twenty first century technologies, universal health coverage besides countering possible existential threats to humankind, developing strategies to tackle climate change and protection of environment and ecology could comprise some of the potential themes for scheduled discussions and deliberations

As a matter of immense pride India is holding Presidency of the G20 nations from 1st December, 2022 to 30th November, 2023 and thereby shouldering the responsibility of steering the G20 agenda for this year besides hosting the annual summit that is slated to take place from 9^th to 10^th September, 2023 at New Delhi. The Summit will mark the culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials and civil societies. The theme of India’s G20 Presidency - “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth, One Family, One Future” affirms the value of all life including human, animal, plant, and microorganisms and their interconnectedness on the planet earth as well as in the wider universe. To make this Presidency remarkable, Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi has invited citizens to share ideas and suggestions for themes that should receive prominence during India's G20 Presidency. Accordingly, some of the suggestions are put forth hereunder in the areas of science and technology, health and education, environment and ecology that should understandably receive the priority: 

We are cruising through the third decade of twenty first century that is witnessing an unprecedented resonance in the advent of science and use of technology. World stands on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has ever witnessed or experienced before. Under these fast-changing circumstances countries that will keep pace and quickly adopt to the changing trends and technologies will emerge victorious in a goal-based sustainable development framework. Therefore, there is need for mutual cooperation, sharing of resources, signing of MoUs for collaborative education, student and teacher education programmes, training and internships among G20 countries in emerging areas of science and technology including artificial intelligence,  cloud computing, big data analytics, robotics, Internet-of-Things, block chain revolution, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, quantum computing, space technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology and molecular medicine, stem cell technology, gene therapy, biodiversity and ecology, point-of-care testing, nuclear and bio-physics, micro-electrical mechanical systems, cancer vaccines, genetically modified foods, cell culture and in-vitro fertilization etc. There is a need to enhance the knowledge-base, training, skills, competencies, expertise, interest and familiarization in these areas among our youth. G20 scientific community can work in tandem across cultures and nations, bridging political divides to encourage innovations and engineer inventions in these areas. 

Corona virus pandemic has emphasized upon the hard lessons of cooperation and collaboration among nations of the world since such outbreaks are not only fraught with disastrous implications upon health and well-being of the human population but also have serious repercussions on the economic, political, social, cultural, ethnic, humanistic and geographical aspects of the human life. Consequently, crisis unfolded by such pandemics needs collaborative, multi-pronged, multi-disciplinary approaches worldwide since scientists or doctors alone cannot be of much help in overcoming the multi-dimensional deleterious consequences of such pandemics. In order to enhance our preparedness to combat a COVID-19 like crisis and manage its consequences well in future, higher education and health institutions as well as research centres in G20 countries need to join hands, collaborate and share their experiences in handling this crisis in the past as well as the lessons learnt by them during this pandemic. They must come out with sufficient and substantial new knowledge, guidance, resources, policy papers and blueprints required to counter the economic, sociological, psychological, medical, commercial, humanitarian and health-related challenges posed by such pandemics. 

Several other existential threats seem to be looming large on the human race and gaining momentum with each passing year in the twenty first century, some of whom include catastrophic climate change and collapse of ecosystems, artificial super-intelligence and the rise of robots, alarming threat of a nuclear warfare, threat of super-volcanic eruptions and devastating earthquakes, impacts of huge asteroids hitting hard upon planet earth, biological and chemical warfare, pandemics, anti-microbial resistance and the emergence of incurable diseases. This is doubly aggravated by the threat of man-made disasters like manufactured, bio-engineered, bio-hazardous super-viruses and bacteria, nuclear terrorism, cybercrime, forest fires, satellite junk and outer-space warfare, water wars clubbed with alarming environmental break-down caused by a spike in carbon emissions, rapid melting of arctic ice, steady rise of global temperatures, erratic and extreme storms assailing coastlines etc. Under these evolving and challenging circumstances sufficient knowledge about these potential threats among educators and researchers could help explore sustainable solutions and armour to tackle them in their right earnest. Furthermore, only a strong, collective, pooled and united effort at the global and G20 level could help us find solutions to these emerging threats to the existence of mankind on the face of earth. 

Health is not just about diagnosing ailments, making hospital admissions and providing treatments, it is an issue of social justice, social solidarity and social security too. Getting good health care is not a privilege, it is considered to be a fundamental human right. A just, humane and civilized society must be able to provide basic health access to all its citizens irrespective of their social status or paying capacity. Universal health coverage (UHC) is the aspiration that all people obtain the health services they need without having to pay all costs out-of-pocket and without suffering any financial hardships paying for them. It implies that all people have access, without any discrimination, to the needed promotive, preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative basic health services and essential, safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, while ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the users to financial hardships, with a special emphasis on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population. UHC ensures that the out-of-pocket expenditures by patients on their healthcare are minimized and they are covered by adequate health insurance covers by the government for which citizens have to pay a very little amount on annual basis. 

Globally, about 150 million people suffer financial catastrophe annually while 100 million are pushed below the poverty line. Only one in five people in the world has broad-based social security protection that also includes cover for lost wages in the event of illness, and more than half the world’s population lacks any type of formal social protection, according to the International Labour Organization. Due to out-of-pocket spending of their income on medicines and healthcare services, about 3.2 to 5 percent of India’s population is pushed below the poverty line every year, as per published reports. This is in spite of the fact that India is known as “Pharmacy of the World” with its pharmaceutical industry having an annual turnover of more than 42 billion dollars half of which is earned through exports. India did a commendable job of delivering more than 200 doses of coronavirus vaccine till July 2022 and issued more than 22 crore 20 lakh Ayushman cards to the beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. G20 countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and many countries of the European Union have made considerable progress in terms of Universal Health Coverage that needs to be replicated in India. We need to emulate their successful models and policy frameworks for making medicines and healthcare available, affordable and accessible to all sections of the society and thereby make UHC a reality by enhancing financial risk protection, reducing out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare and medicines and by making use of quality generic drugs besides increasing per capita expenditure on healthcare by the government. ABPMJAY has already been appreciated worldwide for its utilization, coverage and impact in making healthcare accessible in India. However, in order to make it sustainable and successful for all times to come we need to adopt UHC policy and procedures as done by G20 nations mentioned above. 

On the higher education front, University Grants Commission (UGC) notified draft regulations on the ‘Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) in India’ on January 5, 2023 in pursuit of its agenda of internationalisation of higher education, in consonance with National Education Policy-2020, that seeks to grant permission to foreign universities to set up campuses within India. Foreign universities figuring among top 500 universities of the world would be allowed to set up their campuses in India first that shall be followed by those universities who command a high ranking in specific subjects or specialisations and are highly valued in their respective fields within their own countries. Initially, permission would be granted for ten years, with renewal being subject to the fulfilment of prescribed conditions. These foreign universities would have the freedom to devise their own curricula and admission process. G20 nations should come forward and establish their campuses first within India under this programme and provide affordable quality education of global standards to the Indian youth. 

Sustainable development in G20 nations would not be possible without addressing the issues like global warming, climate change and the protection of environment and ecology. India and China being the most populated nations of G20 group need to take concrete action towards climate change and preservation of environment and ecology. They need to take cues from the policies adopted by other member countries like Australia, Canada, Japan etc in this regard. As G20 member nations represent around 85% of the global GDP, more than 75% of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population, it is an ideal forum to discuss these challenges and evolve sustainable solutions for the same. In sync with the themes of this year’s presidency viz., One Earth, One Family, One Future G20 nations need to find the common ground in these areas and work in tandem towards evolving sustainable solutions for them. Besides these areas, themes in other areas like commerce, trade, poverty alleviation, sustainable development, agriculture and energy could also be suggested.

NEP-2020: What does it mean for the students?

In simple terms this is what National Education Policy of 2020 has to offer to the students aspiring to pursue higher studies in colleges and universities 

For a pretty long time there has been a persistent demand and relentless discussion on absolute transformation of the ways and means in which education is imparted and students are taught in our classrooms. Experts in the field have been perpetually voicing their concerns on the need for bringing a paradigm shift in our pedagogy, technology, psychology and philosophy of teaching and making the teaching-learning process more learner-centric that can lead to a holistic professional, personal and career development of our students. National Education Policy of 2020 not only envisages to change the ways in which students are taught but also the methods in which they are evaluated and assessed, trained and prepared for the global job markets, mentored to face the challenges in their career and life, encouraged to take calculated risks and contribute towards innovation, motivated to harness skill acquisition and venture into entrepreneurship development. This policy aims to foster creative, analytical and critical thinking among students in order to achieve the goals of higher education in their real sense. Flexibility will be the key of higher education under NEP-2020 wherein students will have the freedom to move from one discipline of study to another as well as from one institution to another enabling them to experience multi- and interdisciplinary learning as well as the flexibility to switch from conventional to alternative modes of learning including e-learning, online and hybrid modes. Three pillars on which higher education stands are the teachers who teach, students who are taught and the curriculum that is taught. All three of them are going to witness a revolutionary transformation under the auspices of New National Education Policy of 2020. 

In the post-NEP era, no longer will the students be forced to sit silent throughout an hour long, one-way lecture delivered by their teacher with little scope to raise any questions or doubts and express themselves freely in a more creative, critical and analytical manner, since NEP-2020 promotes adoption of innovative teaching pedagogies like problem-based, inquiry-based, design-based, context-based, outcome-based, competency-based, activity-based, team-based, project-based, evidence-based, collaborative and experiential learning. Henceforth conventional one-way, didactic, monologic, passive mode of teaching shall be replaced by interactive, participative, dialogic mode of learning in which learners shall have full freedom to express their views, opinions and doubts and present new ideas and solutions, no matter how vague they might sound at the very outset. NEP-2020 seeks to impart multi-disciplinary and holistic education to students with a view to produce multi-dimensional, well-rounded individuals equipped with all types of knowledge, skills, competencies and understanding about life, people, places, arts, sciences, languages and technologies. Apart from building capacities, enhancing abilities, shaping attitudes, promoting aptitude and proficiency, improving motivation and efficiency, multi-disciplinary education shall be offered to build their character, persona, intellect, physique, positive insights and outlooks and transform them into ethical, rational, compassionate and caring citizens, while at the same time preparing them to face the challenges of the global job markets and motivating them to pay back to the society in one positive form or the other. 

By virtue of multidisciplinary education, silos and compartments in which we have been working, creating and transmitting knowledge at our educational institutions will be dismantled and students will get an opportunity to learn about arts and humanities too while pursuing sciences, technology, commerce, law or social studies and vice-versa since multi-disciplinary courses, in addition to ability-enhancement, skill-enhancement and value added courses will be offered during an under-graduate degree programme. This will allow students to take a sneak peek and venture into other streams across their discipline and acquire some fundamental knowledge about them while pursuing a major and two minors in their own chosen stream. Ultimate goal of such multidisciplinary learning is to provide greater flexibility and promote “undisciplining’ of knowledge besides developing holistic and all-round individuals who know something about everything, few things about many things and everything about something and thus traverse their journey from being a novice to an advanced learner, from being competent to proficient and finally gaining sufficient expertise in any one chosen field of study. A course shall now be a combination of lecture credits, tutorial credits and practicum credits. For instance, a 4–credit course with three credits assigned for lectures and one credit for practicum shall have three 1-hour lectures per week and one 2-hour duration field-based learning/project or lab work, or workshop activities per week. In a semester of 15 weeks duration, a 4-credit course will be equivalent to 45 hours of lectures and 30 hours of practicum. Furthermore, students will now be able to opt for a UG programme with either a single major discipline wherein they will have to secure a minimum of 50% credits from the major discipline or they can opt for a UG programme with double Major courses wherein they will have to secure a minimum of 40% credits from the second major discipline for the 3-year/4-year UG degree. All discipline-specific courses (major or minor) may be of 4 credits each whereas an additional one to two credits may be allotted for tutorials or practicals. All courses under the multi-disciplinary, ability-enhancement and skill-enhancement categories may be of 3-credits each.

As per NEP-2020, undergraduate degree will be of either 3 or 4-year duration with appropriate certifications at different levels. Students who opt to exit after completion of the first year and have secured 40 credits will be awarded a UG certificate if, in addition, they complete one vocational course of 4 credits during the summer vacation of the first year. These students will be allowed to re-enter the degree programme within three years and complete the degree programme within the stipulated maximum period of seven years. Similarly, students who opt to exit after completion of the second or third year and have secured 80 or 120 credits respectively will be awarded the UG diploma or degree respectively if, in addition, they complete one vocational course of 4 credits during the summer vacation of the second year. A four-year UG Honours degree in the major discipline will be awarded to those who complete a four-year degree programme with 160 credits. Students who secure 75% marks and above in the first six semesters and wish to undertake research at the undergraduate level can choose a research stream in the fourth year. They will work on a research project or dissertation of 12 credits in their major discipline under the guidance of a faculty member of the college or university. Such students will be awarded a UG Degree (Honours with Research). An integrated 5-year Bachelor’s/Master’s programme will also be up for the grabs. Undertaking a Ph.D. shall now require either a Master’s degree or a 4-year Bachelor’s degree with research whereas the M.Phil. programme shall be discontinued. Universities will either be converted into teaching intensive or research-intensive universities whereas all affiliated colleges will be transformed either into autonomous degree awarding colleges/universities or made part of a cluster of universities within their respective regions. Second part of this article will dwell upon academic bank of credits, choice-based-credit-system, assessment and evaluation methods and measures related to skill enhancement and entrepreneurship development in accordance with National Education Policy 2020.

New National Education Policy allows both horizontal and vertical mobility of students as well as mid-term course correction wherein students can swap their chosen majors with minors and vice-versa after their third semester of a UG degree, thus providing them the flexibility to move from one discipline of study to another. During the process of gaining knowledge and completing their degree programmes students can take multiple entries and multiple exits depending upon their personal needs, interests and family commitments. They can stay away from their colleges for a maximum period of three years, re-enter and complete the whole UG degree within a total duration of seven years. This will be particularly useful for the students hailing from rural areas who might occasionally need to lend a helping hand to their families back in their farms during the harvest season or have some other important assignments to attend. Similarly, the students opting for some kind of start-ups, entrepreneurial and industrial ventures can take a break from their college routines and complete their assignments without affecting their career prospects adversely. An Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) shall be established which would digitally store the academic credits earned from various recognized institutions of higher learning. This will allow students to gain the required number of credits from different educational institutions within the country and move around in an unhindered manner from one institution to another. This will also help them gain diverse experiences and insights in different cultures and learning environments of different academic institutions while at the same time giving them freedom to move from one station to another, with or without their family members while pursuing their UG or PG degrees.

NEP-2020 promotes semester-wise, choice-based-credit-system that presents a cafeteria model wherein students can choose open and generic elective courses and teachers of their own choice and do not have to necessarily get taught by only a specific teacher or group of teachers working in a particular educational institution or teaching department of that institute. This will lure greater number of students towards more enterprising, proficient and effective teachers and will generate a healthy competition among teachers motivating others to perform better and create demand for themselves in their respective institutions and teaching departments. Teachers who make use of innovative teaching pedagogies and make learning fun and enjoyable will obviously be in greater demand rather than teachers who believe in chalk and talk method of teaching and rote-learning by students. This will foster creativity, innovation and modernization of teaching pedagogies among teachers and make them more effective knowledge workers. Students who have already enrolled and are pursuing UG programme as per Choice-Based-Credit-System will also be eligible to pursue 4-year undergraduate programme and the university concerned may offer bridge courses (including online courses) to enable them for transition to curriculum and credit framework for undergraduate programme (CCFUGP) notified by UGC. Therefore, NEP-2020 envisages to invest liberally towards creating, fostering, implementing, sustaining and regularizing innovations among our young generation of students that will encourage our students and teachers to be industrious, productive, resourceful and open, share new ideas freely, explore novel initiatives without any fear of ridicule or retribution.

National Education Policy-2020 does not make any distinction between academic and vocational, curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular courses and activities. It gives equitable weightage to all thus allowing students inclined more towards sports, arts, music, dancing, social work etc to pursue their careers with full vigour without losing on their academic scores and grades. New policy encourages formative assessment over summative assessment, continuous over terminal assessment, conceptual understanding over rote-learning and flexibility over rigidity. Thus the students need not cram their curricular contents for their terminal examinations and need not get sleepless nights while preparing for the same. They can just relax and get themselves evaluated on continuous basis soon after they acquire the requisite knowledge, skill or competence in any specific portion of their curriculum because as per NEP-2020 education will be learning outcomes based wherein students will be evaluated on regular (weekly, monthly or quarterly) basis for the accomplishment of their learning objectives. Progress towards achievement of learning outcomes will be assessed using time-constrained examinations including closed-book and open-book tests, problem-based assignments, practical assignment laboratory reports, observation of practical skills, individual project reports (case-study reports), team-based project reports, oral presentations including seminars, viva voce interviews, computerized adaptive assessment, examination on demand, modular certifications, etc. Learning objectives and outcomes will be divided into programme learning outcomes for the whole UG or PG programme and course learning outcomes for various courses within a specific UG or PG programme.

New education policy allows special attention for slow learners through special mentorship guidance and extra-hours of grooming through one-to-one sessions. It also seeks to promote local language, culture and heritage while at the same time inculcating a sense of deep rootedness and pride in India through an understanding and appreciation of its rich ethos, traditions, diversity and contributions to the world of science, mathematics, literature and knowledge. It envisages to make education and research more socially and locally relevant by promoting community outreach and extension activities. Skill enhancement and entrepreneurship development will be promoted through promotion of innovation-incubation and start-up culture. Industrial visits, internships and on-the-job training of students will be fostered with a view to help them meet the emerging challenges of highly dynamic global job markets and make them more employable as per contemporary industry needs. New policy seeks to give impetus to online and e-learning with a view to make education more accessible, affordable and accountable and for this endeavour it aims to bridge the digital divide by providing free gadgets to students hailing from far-flung areas and belonging to lower strata of the society. Collaboration between colleges and universities across the nation will be promoted under the post-NEP era wherein student and teacher exchange programmes will receive a flip and more and more MOUs would be signed in future between inter and intra-national universities in diverse areas of mutual interest. In nutshell students will enjoy greater autonomy, freedom and flexibility under the new policy and relish their studies rather than view them as some kind of unwanted burden. Role of teachers will also be transformed from that of passive transmitters of knowledge to active facilitators and reliable mentors and the educational institutions too will enjoy a higher degree of academic and administrative autonomy besides mutual collaboration and cooperation to achieve the desired goals of higher education. Ultimate aim is to make our students effective contributors of the knowledge society who can contribute significantly towards nation building and augment our knowledge capital.

(Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir. This article is based on the excerpts from a talk delivered by the author during first Techfest of IoT, Zakura on December 13, 2022)

Career guidance is emerging as a full-fledged science

 

Progress and Programmes of the Centre for Career Planning and Counselling (CCPC), University of Kashmir

 

Institutional Autonomy in light of NEP-2020: Challenges and Reforms

 Academic institutions aspiring to be autonomous need to gear up for facing the challenges and instituting reforms required for securing and sustaining institutional autonomy in consonance with NEP-2020

New National Education Policy (NEP-2020) envisages to transform all colleges into fully autonomous degree-granting colleges or constituent colleges of a cluster university. As per clause 10.4 of NEP-2020 “a stage-wise mechanism for granting graded autonomy to colleges, through a transparent system of graded accreditation, has been outlined, following which colleges will be encouraged, mentored, supported, and incentivized to gradually attain the minimum benchmarks required for each level of accreditation. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an autonomous degree-granting college, or a constituent college of a university, and in the latter case, it would be fully a part of the university. With appropriate accreditations, autonomous degree-granting colleges could evolve into research-intensive or reaching-intensive universities, if they so aspire”. In this regard a national conference was organized on the theme “Institutional Autonomy in light of NEP-2020: Challenges and Reforms” at Govt. Degree College, Baramulla on August 24-25, 2022 wherein major challenges likely to be confronted and reforms required to be made by the institutions of higher learning for achieving institutional autonomy were discussed threadbare by eminent academicians and experts in the field. Pertinently GDC Baramulla is the third college of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir that has been granted autonomous status by the government of J&K. Other two colleges that were granted this status earlier include Islamia College of Science and Commerce, Srinagar and Govt. College for Women, parade ground, Jammu.

As per my own understanding, ten big challenges for achieving and sustaining institutional autonomy are enumerated as under:

1.     Accountability and Transparency 

Authority and autonomy is always fraught with a lot of responsibility. Securing autonomy is a lot easier than sustaining it. Financial accountability and transparency is the litmus test for any institution for sustaining its autonomy in the long run since that will govern the credibility of its administrative functioning. When an institution is given full authority to make its own admissions, run its own courses, manage its own finances, examine and evaluate its own students and award degrees to them, it has to display full integrity, accountability and transparency in all these processes. Establishing a fool-proof examination and evaluation system and ensuring its accountability, transparency, confidentiality and integrity shall be one of the biggest challenges before an autonomous academic institution. 

2.     Timely completion of programmes

Primary stakeholders of any educational institution are its students and one thing that concerns students the most is timely completion of their degrees so that their precious time is not lost by any means and they do not miss out on any opportunities for their recruitment on account of any inordinate delays in their degree completion. Therefore, this will be yet another yardstick on which the autonomy of an institution will be judged considering the fact that the entire cycle starting from admission of the students till the award of their degrees shall be lying within the jurisdiction of the autonomous institution, for which they need to constitute their own Governing Body, Academic Council, Board of Studies, IQAC and Examination Cell.

3.     Employability and acceptability of students in job markets

Credibility and standing of an autonomous institution as well the demand for its courses will be determined by the employability and acceptability of its pass-outs in the national and global job markets particularly in light of the fast-changing dynamics of job markets around the globe in the post-covid era. Therefore, autonomous institutions need to focus more on job-oriented, skill-enabled, demand-driven and industrially relevant courses with sufficient degree of practical orientation, internship and on-job training.

4.     Assessment and accreditation scores and grades

In the NEP-2020 era maximum thrust is being laid by the regional and central governments as well as funding agencies upon assessment and accreditation status of the institution and its programmes. Quantum and continuity of funding is also being governed by the assessment and accreditation scores and grades of the institution. Therefore, all academic institutions aspiring to become autonomous or having already achieved this status need to pool all their resources, efforts, capabilities and energy towards attaining and retaining good assessment and accreditation scores and grades. This will add to their credibility and standing among academic and social circles and help them attract substantial funding as well as best talent in the field.

5.     Community outreach, consultancy and extension activities

Community outreach and extension activities are as important as teaching and research owing to the fact that NEP-2020 expects educational institutions to step out of their boundaries and extend their services, research outcomes and benefits to the communities at large and include members of the civil society in their decision-making process. NEP-2020 emphasizes upon the educational institutions to make their research need-based, demand-driven, context-specific, locally and socially relevant besides adopting communities and villages for their outreach and extension activities.

6.     Academic and scientific impact of research

Soul of any institution of higher learning comprises of its academic and research output and their scientific impact that is in turn governed by the quantum of publication of research papers, books, book chapters and publication of path-breaking research findings in high impact national and international journals of repute. Publication metrices and citation indices are important parameters for assessment and accreditation and therefore need to be taken seriously by academic institutions aspiring for grant or continuation of autonomy. Academic impact in turn will be governed by curricular framework adopted by the institution, its design, upgradation and reforms undertaken on regular basis. Quality, relevance and validity of curricular content will be of utmost importance for its overall success.

7.     Social relevance and impact of education and research

Government and private funding agencies worldwide are seeking returns on their investments and laying huge emphasis these days on the societal outcomes of research and their applicability in resolving day-to-day problems being faced by the mankind. So far researchers have been focusing only upon scientific or academic impact of the research in terms of number and quality of publications in scientific journals having high impact factor. However, there is also need to assess and ensure some kind of social impact of the education and research of an institution on ground because at the end of the day it is not the impact factor, h-index or the number of citations received on a publication that matter; what really matters the most is to what extent research has significantly impacted and brought a positive change in the human lives and transformed this world into a better place to live. Therefore, it becomes imperative for every piece of research irrespective of the field in which it is undertaken to have a significant societal impact in terms of some kind of scientific, social, cultural, economic, environmental, ecological, political, spiritual, technological, legal, behavioural, demographic, ethnic or humanistic implications on the society at large. Autonomous institutions need to lay maximum thrust on the societal relevance and impact of their education and research for making a mark for themselves in the long run.

8.     Skill enhancement, innovations, start-up incubation and entrepreneurship development

For a long time youth of our country have been suffering from the miseries of skill-deprivation and lack of innovation in their education. Now, in consonance with NEP-2020, it is time to accord as much importance to innovation-incubation, start-up and entrepreneurship development as is given to teaching-learning and research. Progress of educational institutions is nowadays being determined by the number of new prototypes produced, start-ups incubated and innovative products and services developed by them. Many universities treat a successful start-up at par with a Ph.D. thesis owing to their utility and financial impact on the entrepreneurs. Therefore, all autonomous institutions need to establish their own innovation-incubation and entrepreneurship development centres.

9.     Infrastructure development and institution building

Autonomous institutions need to continuously work on their infrastructure development and institution building so that they can continue to offer new programmes with the passage of time and thereby keep on increasing the demand for their courses which can in turn help them generate their own revenue on a sustainable basis. Every institutional head needs to contribute significantly towards institution building and thereby leave a rich legacy behind so that his name is remembered in the annals and history of that institution for a long time to come.

10.  Financial resource mobilization and utilization

Last but not the least smartness of any head of an autonomous or aspiring to be autonomous institution will be judged by his capabilities of financial resource mobilization and utilization as per financial codes in vogue. There are a good number of funding agencies ready to fund innovative ideas for academic enrichment and research activities. Pre-requisite for funding is the utility, impact, robustness and novelty of grant proposals submitted by the institution. Ample funding opportunities are available under schemes like college with potential for excellence, women empowerment, skill-enhancement, community enrichment, finding solutions to contemporary problems like climate change, unemployment, drug abuse, increasing disease burden and decreasing life expectancy rates. Ultimately financially sound institutions only will emerge successful in achieving and sustaining their autonomous status.

On the basis of challenges listed above, ten big reforms required for securing and safeguarding institutional autonomy by any higher educational institution are summarized as under:

 

v Revisiting its vision and mission statements in tune with NEP-2020

v Re-examining and rethinking its future goals, objectives and plans of action

v Redesigning and remodelling its course curriculum in consonance with various provisions of NEP-2020

v Re-engineering its academic and research infrastructure 

v Restructuring and re-orienting its human resource

v Revamping the organizational structure in consonance with NEP-2020

v Reviving and re-energizing its faculty improvement programmes and student welfare measures and practices

v Refurbishing its student and teacher amenities and other on-campus facilities

v Re-aligning and repositioning its march towards growth, progress and development

v Redeeming and restoring our glorious past in education 

Conclusion 

While our academic institutions embark on their journey of attaining and retaining institutional autonomy, they shall have to begin with a change in their outlook and instead of being sceptical about this paradigm shift they must view it optimistically and strongly believe that it might be challenging but not impossible to achieve. Then they need to work on their Institutional Development Plans (IDPs) in consonance with clause 19.5 of the NEP-2020. Through IDPs, higher education institutions need to identify their achievable targets in terms of curricular reforms, infrastructural development, pedagogical innovation, augmentation of human resource, administrative reforms, effective institutional governance, evaluation and examination reforms, research innovation, skill development, community outreach programmes, student exchange programmes, stakeholder involvement, partnering with skill hubs, industry-academia interaction, innovation and start-up incubation, promotion of open learning and workflow automation. For optimum results a bottom-up approach is suggested for the preparation of IDPs in consultation with various departments, centres and schools of a a college. Individual departments can furnish the requisite information on a prescribed format covering all aspects of NEP-2020 after convening their departmental committee meetings, that in turn can be used to consolidate and finalize an IDP for the whole college. Once strategic IDPs are formulated and submitted by the HEIs to the higher education department and UGC, it will become easier for them to secure substantial financial support and execute the same in a time bound manner. Thereafter, by taking the measures mentioned above, academic institutions can begin their journey towards getting transformed and elevated as autonomous degree granting institutions.

 

(Based on the excerpts from the address delivered by the author while chairing a technical session during two-day National Conference on “Institutional Autonomy in light of NEP-2020: Challenges and Reforms”, organized by Govt. Degree College, Baramulla on August 24-25, 2022)

September 5: Teacher's Day - Let us reignite the spark of knowledge seeking among our students

On this day let us pledge to enhance the knowledge capital of our students and help our society emerge as a knowledge society 

Knowledge seeking is an arduous and tiresome yet fulfilling, rewarding and soul-nourishing journey. It calls for an unwavering commitment to a cause, dedication, devotion, determination, hard-work, patience, perseverance and passion to undertake this voyage from the known to the unknown. While we see and observe what everyone else has seen and observed we need to think and ponder upon issues that nobody has ever thought about and ventured into. Here it needs to be emphasized that seeing and observing is not the same. While everyone had seen apples falling on the ground till late nineteenth century, it was only Newton who keenly observed and looked at it with a different perspective and ultimately came up with the path-breaking law of universal gravitation. We need to search as well as create new knowledge through deep learning and research and thus travel the distance between an idea and its realization. Our students need to learn the art of scientific investigation through deep thinking and systematic review of literature for finding new facts. For this to happen our teachers need to be open to new ideas, new concepts, new theories, new approaches and new conclusions. We need to teach our students how to search for existing and new knowledge through objective and systematic scientific methods for finding solutions to our day-to-day problems. Of late there has been a disturbing trend among students to somehow complete their degrees and gain some skills with a view to find jobs and settle down in life with no passion or commitment towards seeking knowledge and evolving solutions to the problems being faced by the mankind. This has led them to superficial learning aimed at passing the subjects and completing the degrees rather than gaining knowledge through an in-depth understanding of different subjects. Consequently, we are miserably failing in enhancing our knowledge capital and emerging as a knowledge society. On Teacher’s Day that is being observed nationwide on September 5^th every year on the birth anniversary of a great teacher, diplomat, scholar and former President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, let us take a pledge to make sincere efforts towards reigniting the spark and reinvigorating the zeal of knowledge seeking among our students. 

In the present-day context, particularly in light of NEP-2020 era, teachers have to play an enabling role in the holistic development of the students. This involves not only imparting knowledge and skills, but also developing critical and innovative thinking, engaging them in research and extension activities, furnishing instructional material with the aid of information technology tools and above all counseling them for their personalized educational needs. Modern day teacher has to be a friend, a philosopher, a guide, a counselor and a mentor. Apart from teaching he has to mentor, guide and counsel his students, handhold them and steer them towards the right path of seeking new knowledge, improving their intellectual capital and motivating them to achieve great heights in life. We need to impart multi-disciplinary and holistic education to our students with a view 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. Apart from building capacities, enhancing abilities, shaping attitudes, promoting aptitude and proficiency, improving motivation and efficiency, multi-disciplinary education has to be offered to build their character, persona, intellect, physique, positive insights and outlooks and transform them into ethical, rational, compassionate and caring citizens, while at the same time preparing them for gainful, 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. 

Mentor-mentee relationship is fast gaining momentum worldwide in this regard. A teacher just teaches and delivers content whereas a mentor's role is to guide and to inspire; to give advice and to support the mentee. A mentor can help his mentee improve his or her abilities and skills through observation, continuous assessment, monitoring and counseling. Good mentorship evokes and engages practical and analytical thinking, critical evaluation, constructive mindset and problem‐solving skills that can be applied in a variety of settings and perspectives. It leaves a positive impact upon mentees’ values, commitments, ideals and mindsets. Mentoring is critical to good teaching, especially to teaching emotionally disturbed, stressed and behaviorally challenged students. It provides an ample opportunity to know the students’ world in the way that they live it, to interpret that understanding back to the pupil, and then provide boundaries of reality so that they may function more competently. Mentoring is also needed by the students looking for fully or partially funded opportunities for higher education, scholarships, fellowships, internships, both within and outside India. We need to create a pool of mentors having a philanthropic spirit, who are always willing to guide our youth in this regard at no additional costs. They need to be networked for offering timely help to budding youth in search of guidance. A big question staring right into the eyes of all teachers on this very day is whether we harness and exhibit empathy in our day-to-day teaching or we fail to inspire awe or for that matter even touch the hearts and minds of our students in a manner that is essential to foster a positive and constructive change. This is where we need to pool all our efforts for regaining the lost glory of this pious profession. 

“What is most thought-provoking in these thought-provoking times is that we are still not thinking”, Martin Heidegger once said. ‘Thinking’ here includes a set of cognitive activities that we use to process information, make connections, solve problems, take decisions and create new ideas. It will be prudent to take a pledge on the teachers’ day today to transform our students into thinkers - creative and analytical thinkers. Only when they become good thinkers, they can be creative innovators, knowledge seekers and credible nation builders. Creative thinking refers to the ability to conceive new and innovative ideas by breaking from established thoughts, theories, norms and procedures. It involves putting things together in new and imaginative ways. It is often referred to as “thinking out-of-the-box.” Analytical thinking on the other hand refers to the ability to separate a whole into its basic parts in order to examine the parts and their mutual relationships. It involves thinking in a logical, stepwise manner to break down a larger system of information into its contiguous parts. By way of analytical and creative thinking we actually need to promote critical thinking among our students that refers to the ability to exercise careful evaluation or judgment in order to determine the authenticity, accuracy, worth, validity or value of something. In addition to precise, objective analysis, critical thinking involves synthesis, evaluation, reflection, and reconstruction. Rather than strictly breaking down the information, critical thinking explores other elements that could have an influence on the conclusions. Once we succeed in our mission of fostering creative, analytical and critical thinking among our students goals of our education will be met in their real sense. Positive, constructive, sequential, convergent as well as divergent thinking will automatically fall into the place. At present we are not allowing thinking of any kind, we are only spoon feeding and storing information in their brains without allowing them to process it. 

Teachers’ Day celebration should mark the beginning of an irrevocable transformation of student-teacher relationship into the one that encourages questioning and critical analysis, that fosters creativity and helps build constructive insights; one that dwells into different perspectives on every topic of discussion, that explores new possibilities and evokes innovative solutions to our intriguing problems; one that is based on empathy and compassion, care and companionship rather than being a whip-wielding master. Our goal on this day should be to minimize the importance of mere degrees, marks, grades and certificates and maximize the significance of knowledge, skills and competence among our students. Let students be the masters of their own choices and destiny and let teachers be the torch-bearers and path-finders of their bright and magnificent future. Let us transform students’ yearning for marks and grades into their quest for knowledge and learning. On this day let us think about ways and means how to break the shackles of degrees and certificates and make our students effective contributors of the knowledge society who can contribute significantly towards nation building and building our knowledge capital. A minor shake-up will be of no avail, a massive restructuring is needed for the same and the new National Education Policy (NEP-2020) provides that necessary framework and guidance that could facilitate this revolutionary and historic transformation of our education system. 

(Author teaches at the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir)