Cognitive inconsistency and axiomatic irrationality become evident when a few put forth the view that the spirit behind and the structural reforms advocated by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are unsuitable. The NEP is a vision document that provides a broad contour of how education can be transformed in India while getting away from the clutches of the colonial mindset. The National Credit Framework (NCrF) is one of several transformative reforms that are derived from the NEP, providing a flexible template for educational institutions offering school, higher, vocational, and skill education. Using the NCrF, higher education institutions (HEI) can give a unified accumulation and transfer of credits across multidisciplinary education, including skill education. The NCrF is an enabling framework rather than a regulatory one.
More flexibility for students
When HEIs adopt the NCrF, students can earn credits in various activities provided they undergo an assessment. The NCrF gives students the flexibility to earn credits from classroom teaching, laboratory work, Atal Tinkering Laboratories, research projects, assignments, tutorials, sports and games, yoga, the performing arts, music, handicrafts, social work, National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme activities, vocational and skill education, minor and major projects, on-the-job training, internships, apprenticeships, and experiential learning. Providing flexibility and broad-based educational opportunities through the NCrF has unnerved some who are deeply rooted in the conventional ways of imparting higher education.
The position of those few who remain bafflingly immune to the dynamic and forward-looking nature of the NEP 2020 is inherently “problematic”. Their dismissive attitude towards the curriculum changes based on the NCrF shows their unwillingness to understand India’s societal, technological, and educational needs. This is precisely why India’s higher education system should steadfastly remain dynamic and relevant to the country’s needs to avoid the risk of becoming obsolete.
In keeping with the inevitable rapid economic and technological changes, the NCrF aims to help institutions remain flexible and competitive. Keeping the current and future evolution of job requirements, there is only one solution — revise the curriculum so that it is in tune with the NCrF. HEIs should demonstrate their capacity to adapt to the evolving new situations by bridging the skill mismatch so that the career prospects of students are not hindered.
Any view that HEIs should remain the place for the sole purpose of training students only to become knowledge producers is an outdated and obstinate refusal to see the reality. In the modern world, HEIs, besides being havens of knowledge, must equip students with the skills and the competencies needed for emerging roles and self-employment. However, such a dual role is possible only when HEIs adopt the NCrF and allow students to pursue their academic and career goals.
Continuous adaptation is the key
Let us not promote an elitist brand of higher education by not supporting reforms in higher education; these reforms are necessary for the democratisation of education and social equity. HEIs must continuously adapt and reinvent themselves in response to changing circumstances. Having a few hinder efforts in transforming higher education in HEIs can lead to a stagnation and compromise the effectiveness of our institutions.
The NEP 2020 also advocates the multidisciplinary education and research university (MERU) concept. The focus of such HEIs would be to serve as nurseries for scholars and intellectuals. However, such universities should not be considered an end in itself, and many other HEIs should also focus on vocational and skill training to enhance the employability of students.
When students acquire practical skills and knowledge through a flexible curriculum — as envisaged in the NCrF — higher education will become a tool for students to increase their social mobility. Those opposing structural changes in higher education advocate fossilised pedagogical approaches that do not align with the new economic realities and social aspirations.
On vocational and skill training
Depending on the nature of HEIs, institutions can lay emphasis on vocational and skill training, focus on fundamental research, innovation, and intellectual pursuits, and ensure that knowledge production and skill training coexist as deeply interconnected processes. The bottomline is that those who acquire vocational and skill training can be as impactful as those who produce new knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to fallaciously overemphasise or deride one over the other as both are important.
The primary objective of the NCrF is to help HEIs balance vocational and skill training and knowledge-generating academic pursuits so that HEIs play a pivotal role in shaping individual futures and societal progress.
We must reimagine our higher education curricula by integrating flexibility and multidisciplinary and skill-based courses to transform India into an economic powerhouse and technological leader. Those who oppose this flexibility in higher education curricula and insist that universities should become elitist only show their unreasonable and outdated view.
Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar is Chairman, University Grants Commission and a former Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University. The views expressed are personal
Published - September 25, 2024 12:08 am IST
