LOK SABHA
Reform the School and Higher Education
3206. PROF. SAUGATA RAY
Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has any proposal to reform the School and Higher Education;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the restructuring proposals of Governing Bodies of Universities and Colleges;
(d) whether the Government will follow transparent procedures for the selection of Vice Chancellors of Universities;
(e) if so, the details thereof;
(f) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that some Vice Chancellors do not have UGC prescribed qualifications; and
(g) if so, the details thereof?
(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)
(a) and (b): The Government has announced the National Education Policy 2020 on 29.07.2020. The salient features of NEP 2020 includes :-
(i) Ensuring Universal Access at All Levels of schooling from pre-primary school to Grade 12;
(ii) Ensuring quality early childhood care and education for all children between 3-6 years;
(iii) New Curricular and Pedagogical Structure (5+3+3+4);
(iv) No hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams;
(v) Establishing National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy;
(vi) Emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages; The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language.
(vii) Assessment reforms – Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired;
(viii) Setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development);
(ix) Equitable and inclusive education – Special emphasis given on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups(SEDGs);
(x) A separate Gender Inclusion fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups;
(xi) Robust and transparent processes for recruitment of teachers and merit based performance;
(xii) Ensuring availability of all resources through school complexes and clusters;
(xiii) Setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA);
(xiv) Exposure of vocational education in school and higher education system;
(xv) Increasing GER in higher education to 50%;
(xvi) Holistic Multidisciplinary Education with multiple entry/exit options;
(xvii) NTA to offer Common Entrance Exam for Admission to HEIs;
(xviii) Establishment of Academic Bank of Credit;
(xix) Setting up of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities(MERUs);
(xx) Setting up of National Research Foundation(NRF);
(xxi) ‘Light but Tight’ regulation;
(xxii) Single overarching umbrella body for promotion of higher education sector including teacher education and excluding medical and legal education- the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)-with independent bodies for standard setting- the General Education Council; funding-Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC); accreditation- National Accreditation Council (NAC); and regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC);
(xxiii) Expansion of open and distance learning to increase GER.
(xxiv) Internationalization of Education
(xxv) Professional Education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions in these or other fields, will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.
(xxvi) Teacher Education – 4-year integrated stage-specific, subject- specific Bachelor of Education
(xxvii) Establishing a National Mission for Mentoring.
(xxviii) Creation of an autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education.
(xxix) Achieving 100% youth and adult literacy.
(xxx) Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialization of higher education.
(xxxi) All education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not for profit’ entity.
(xxxii) The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
(xxxiii) Strengthening of the Central Advisory Board of Education to ensure coordination to bring overall focus on quality education.
(xxxiv) Ministry of Education: In order to bring the focus back on education and learning, it may be desirable to re-designate MHRD as the Ministry of Education (MoE).
(c): NEP 2020 states that all HEIs in India will aim to become independent self-governing institutions pursuing innovation and excellence through a suitable system of graded accreditation and graded autonomy, and in a phased manner over a period of 15 years. Upon receiving the appropriate graded accreditations that deem the institution ready for such a move, a Board of Governors (BoG) shall be established consisting of a group of highly qualified, competent, and dedicated individuals having proven capabilities and a strong sense of commitment to the institution. The BoG of an institution will be empowered to govern the institution free of any external interference, make all appointments including that of head of the institution, and take all decisions regarding governance.
(d) and (e): The Government already follows the transparent procedures for selection of Vice Chancellors as per statues of the Universities.
(f) and (g): Vice Chancellors of Central Universities are selected as per the Acts/Statutes of the concerned Universities.