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Hits and misses in education sector

Many changes have been initiated by the government in the education sector in the past three years but they are…

Hits and misses in education sector

Prakash Javadekar (PHOTO: Facebook)

Many changes have been initiated by the government in the education sector in the past three years but they are all still in the pipeline or have not started showing results. Many ambitious projects have also got delayed or are facing technical glitches.

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) took major decisions such as withdrawing the no-detention policy. Most states are on board on the issue as they feel that the no-detention policy has led to deterioration in the quality of learning. States have been allowed to detain students in Classes V and VIII on the basis of exams till the RTE Act is amended. Learning outcomes will be defined in the RTE Act according to a new initiative. 

To improve the quality of school teachers, the HRD Ministry has also decided that they will not allow any new B.Ed college to be launched in 2017-18. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has termed these private colleges as "fly-by-night operators." 

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The number of seats in IITs has been increased with reservations introduced for women also, but the teacher-student ratio still remains way below the benchmark. Increasing the number of seats in IITs it is likely to affect the quality of education in these world-class institutions.  

Conferring degrees to management students who graduate from IIMs would be possible when the IIM Bill is passed by Parliament. The IIM Bill was seen as one that will impinge on the autonomy of the IIMs, but the apprehensions have been dismissed by the Ministry.

The HRD ministry has finalised a proposal to set up 20 world class institutions out of which ten will be from the private sector and ten from the public sector. The institutions will have to achieve a place in the top 500 of any of the global rankings within 10 years of being declared an institution of eminence and eventually reach the top 100 slot. These institutes will be called institutes of national eminence and will enjoy autonomy in deciding their course structure.

The government has also announced the proposal of creating a Higher Educational Financing Agency which will raise money from the debt market for setting up research infrastructure. About Rs.20,000 crore will be raised, Javadekar revealed.

The Union Budget had announced that University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be reformed and  Javadekar, too, reiterated that the regulatory regime would be completely overhauled. But there is a lot of ambiguity on how the process will be undertaken vis a vis UGC. It is learned that a high-level meeting of group of secretaries has taken place over the ways the regulatory regime can be changed. Javadekar has also said that there is a need to grade institutions and give more autonomy to the better ones.     

As part of moving towards a Digital India, the HRD Ministry had announced Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Although the ministry was planning to launch it in August last year, it is yet to see the light of day. The National Academic Depository (NAD) which is supposed to create a digital back-up of all the degrees and certificates of students is also facing technical glitches. Sources said the launch of NAD which was being discussed for the past several years is likely to be announced this year. 

Performance in points

*IIM Bill yet to be passed in Parliament. 

*Ambiguity over how UGC will be reformed although announced in the union budget. 

*Projects like Massive Open Online Courses delayed 

*National Academic Depository facing technical glitches. 

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