The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Puducherry Government Society College Staff Association, has urged Pondicherry University to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the Union Territory from the next academic year.
In a letter addressed to K. Chandrasekhara Rao, Officer on Special Duty, College Development Council, Pondicherry University, D. Ramkumar, president of the JAC said that all affiliated colleges of the varsity had completed their first semester on December 23, 2023 under the existing Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) as per the schedule of the academic calendar. But the University has come out with the NEP syllabus at the end of December 2023, long after the completion of the syllabus.
“If the NEP syllabus had to be implemented from the current academic year 2023-24 as per the communication issued by the university, the students would be forced to learn new subjects and unlearn the subjects already studied under the CBCS. This would put the students under tremendous psychological pressure and would not facilitate the ‘teaching-learning’ process to accomplish the objectives of NEP,” Prof Ramkumar said.
JAC has urged Pondicherry University to consider permitting the current batch of students enrolled during the academic year 2023-24 to continue their learning under the existing CBCS syllabus. NEP should be implemented from the academic year 2024-25 since the affiliated colleges would then be, better placed, to implement the compliant syllabus for the undergraduate programmes, it said.
