IT News
Imphal, May 6:
Two days seminar with Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of the North Eastern regional central, deemed of the universities held today at the court hall of the Manipur University. The two days seminar was attended by Dr RK Ranjan, Union Minister of state for Education as chief Guest and Kamini Chauhan Ratan Joint secretary Department of Education Ministry and Prof N Lokendra Vice Chancellor Manipur University as president.
RK Ranjan, Union Minister of state for Education expressed that august academic and intellectual gathering to discuss and deliberate on issues, challenges and prospects of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) situated in the North-Eastern Region of India. Geographically isolated and richly diverse, NER is the land of mesmerizing beauty which symbolizes our rich cultural legacy and the diversity that we are proud of. The region is populated by kind-hearted and soft-spoken people and they inherit their true belongingness with the rest of the country.
He further stated that this gathering of academia and intellectuals of the region will unfold our true potential and our strength in contributing our works, views and inputs towards building a new India that suits the social, political and economic conditions of the 21st Century. Higher education provides the opportunities and life chances for youth to gain skill, knowledge and outlook appropriate for the 21st Century knowledge society. Notwithstanding the presence of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversities among people and geographical isolation of the region from the mainland, NE region has witnessed considerable growth in various indicators in the development of higher education. A notable number of Centrally and State funded HEIs have been established in the region with clear
policy input us providing better infrastructure, recruitment of quality faculties and staffs and above all ensuring equitable quality and affordable higher education to the people of the North-east. Growth in the number of HEIs and focus on strengthening infrastructure and hiring quality faculty have also resulted in gaining recognition from the national and international ranking and accreditation institutions such as NIRF and NAAC. However, we have a long way to go and each one of us needs to join our hands together in this journey of transforming higher education in NER.
India as a Nation will grow at the global scale when its various Regions, States including the NER join hands by their growth and development. In this process, universities in the NER can play a very critical role in not just providing greater access to its people but by creating vibrant human capital and global citizenship. University education in NER will have to redefine its purpose to widen access to university education for youth of NER so that they do not need to migrate to other parts of the country for higher studies. Thus, the purpose should be to ensure quality education for a vibrant human capital with appropriate skills, attitudes, aptitudes and outlook that are job-ready and are conscious citizens of their community and the country.
I strongly believe that in our mind set we are living with colonial history. One of our main responsibilities is to decolonize our colonial mindset. The history of North East has been dominated by several noteworthy unsung heroes about whom the young generation and the general public are not even aware of. In each of the North-Eastern States, these unsung heroes fought valiantly against the colonial regime. But those heroes were conveniently ignored by the colonial historians. My earnest urge to all the Universities of the region is to undertake research in their State to unearth heroic deeds of those unsung and forgotten heroes. The HEIs can promote/popularize their contributions through new courses and by organizing seminars, conferences, events etc.
Another window of opportunity for the HEIs of NER is to collaborate and network with each other and share relevant research and development resources such as laboratory, research equipment, library resources etc. in order to ensure availability and usage of such resources and enhance their usage efficiency for the entire region. In a world that we live now is increasingly becoming complex and presents dynamic challenges requiring innovative and sustainable solutions. HEIs can no longer remain in isolation from each other. The collaboration and partnerships that are called for would yield significant results in transforming HEIs of the country as a whole. This partnership in resource sharing will not only enhance cooperation, support and healthy competition among HEIs, it will also strengthen the overall performance of an institution and hence enhance footing in the national and international rankings.
With emphasis of NEP-2020 on the role of vocational and skill education for the youth and the masses, HEls in the NER need to consider this as an important opportunity for skilling its students and the people of the region in a mission mode. Vocational and skill education can cover areas of modern as well as more traditional art and craft, entrepreneurship start-ups and skills for small-scale industry and business enterprises increasing employment and entrepreneurships both in modern as well as traditional occupation and businesses valued by the people.
NEP 2020 is a significant policy milestone in the history of India’s national development and aspirations for global leadership. The NEP 2020 is the new arrangement of elements keeping in mind the emerging social, cultural, political and economic realities of the present century. To meet the challenges of the 211′ Century, the recommendations and suggestions for reforming our education system are required to be implemented. In letter and spirit if we have to maintain our distinct intellectual and cultural identity and attain global leadership. Being leader of the Higher Education Institutions, role of VCs and Directors holds paramount importance.
The Union Ministry of State for Education RK Ranjan reminds all that the National Education Policy, 2020 demands a new system of education, both in structural and functional senses. We require quality both In terms of curricula as well as teachers. Teachers need to have a multi-dimensional perspective and should pursue multidisciplinary knowledge – that is while having in-depth knowledge of their fields; they should also locate themselves in a broader knowledge system. Teachers should have their own freedom in designing their own curricula and methods of teachings in order to mold a new generation of free Indians. The NEP wants to create an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary holistic view for sustainable development. Our universities should be filled with multidisciplinary and holistic perspectives to transform the system of higher education for students and for the general public. I hope our deliberations would identify the problem areas and would also find out the mechanism to overcome such hurdles.
The ideal goal of the NEP 2020 could be achieved only when our teachers are good enough to be a driving force, a force that will lead the nation towards a New India. However, the visible weakness of the universities of North East India is that a large number of faculty and non-faculty posts are vacant In many HEIs. We need to fill up these posts in a time bound manner. We must take up the issue of vacant posts very seriously.
In many universities in general and in the North East in particular, there is a development. Various various reasons. During our discussion, we are expected to look into different aspects of the infrastructural bottlenecks. Not only the buildings, please examine the possibilities of serious problems of infrastructural infrastructural works being held up due to infrastructural development right from curricular and pedagogic transactions to multidisciplinary researches and development projects. The NEP 2020 should not suffer because of lack of commitment in completing infrastructural projects in time. I hope that the Universities have analysed their performance under different parameters of NIRF ranking and are ready to share their plan to improvise their ranking in future.
Many steps have been taken by the Ministry of Education in implementation of the NEP 2020. Universities of the North East Region should avail of the enabling provisions made so that the NEP 2020 is implemented in letter and spirit. All the HEIs are eligible to participate in the new system of Academic Bank of Credit(ABC) established to ensure mobility and flexibility for students. UGC has already amended its Regulations to facilitate the Hub and Spoke model of Vocational education to enhance employability. Also, UGC has already issued Guidelines for HEIs to offer Apprenticeship/ Internship embedded Degree programmes. Further, UGC has issued the Regulation increasing credit by using SWAYAM from 20% to 400%. Universities of NE Region may adopt SWAYAM Courses if not already done as the number of SWAYAM Courses have increased manifold now.
Union Minister of state for Education Rk Ranjan added that the gathering will serve as a platform for discussions on transforming HEIs in the NE region including, the strategies for actions, the perceived challenges and to comprehend the local and contextual needs and requirements.
