To help students come out of depression and get help when needed, all universities and higher education institutions will be required to start a peer-assisted learning programme.
Explaining the concept, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, said on the sidelines of the ‘Global summit on quality higher education’ here on Saturday that the idea was to ensure that students were mentally strong. “An academically weak students will be clubbed with a student who is better off academically,” he said.
He said that the initiative, besides preventing suicides, would also help in reducing the drop-out rate in higher education.
NAAC assessment
Besides this, to ensure transparency in assessment, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has decided to ensure that the logistics for the team that goes to assess higher education institutions is outsourced.
Elaborating on this initiative, D.P. Singh, director of NAAC, said that under the current system, the institute which needs to be assessed organises all arrangements and knows about the visit prior to the team that inspects the place.
“To curb corruption, we have initiated these measures,” Mr. Singh said.
