VGU Conducts A Two-Day Curriculum Conclave ‘Saaransh’

The two-day Curriculum Conclave ‘Saaransh’ concluded at the Vivekananda Global University, a NAAC A+ accredited University, on Sunday with calls from the top educationists to the higher education institutes to overcome challenges in the implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP) and assertions that the NEP could establish India as the ‘Vishwa Guru’. 

The two-day Conclave witnessed deliberations and exchange of views by the experts drawn from across the country on the NEP, the challenges in its implementation as well as preparing the curricular syllabus that fulfills the goals of the NEP.

The entire Conclave was divided into seven sessions-inculcating start-up culture in the University, promoting multi-disciplinary core & open elective courses, ensuring quality teaching pedagogy, fine-tuning University Academic regulations & implementation of e-governance, balancing extracurricular and curricular, evaluation reforms and industry-led courses and MOOCs- with each session focussing on one or more core areas concerning the NEP.

Launching the concluding day’s session, Dr. Shakeela Shamsu, former OSD, NEP, department of higher education, the government of India, said that NEP was aspirational in nature and so there would be some teething problems in its implementation. She said that academic restructuring was required for providing practical pathways. “Operational issues that have been flagged off have been looked into and we will find that they are not so difficult to implement,’’ Dr Shakeela added.

“Institutions will gradually understand the ABC...there is a lot of flexibility in the NEP...we need to sensitize the students... structure of the program must be clear in the mind of the teachers,’’ she remarked.

Prof. Vijay Kumar, the vice-chancellor of National Law University, Bhopal, pointed out the problems being encountered in the implementation of the NEP owing to the existence of a large number of regulatory bodies and stressed the need for enactment of a central law with regard to the NEP. “A central law is needed on the NEP. Many states are opposed to NEP... I can't understand the delay in bringing a Bill,’’ he said urging the government to give the universities autonomy and make them accountable. He also referred to the large number of vacant positions in the universities and stressed the need to fill them.

Dr Deependra Singh, a member of the Pharmacy Council of India said that earlier the teachers moved and not the students but now the students will move not the teachers. “It will take time.... students are the customers...now we take into account the wish of the students...we need people who are ready for the industry...we are giving choice to the students....it will take some time to implement all the parameters...multiple exit system may be problematic,’’ Dr. Singh added. 

Prof Sandeep Sancheti, the vice-chancellor of Marwari University, said that the regulations could not be static. “They should be dynamic in nature. Some fundamentals will remain but change is important,’’ he remarked. He also said that the structural changes should not be done in quick intervals. “Autonomy and responsibility go hand in hand. There must be a good representation of the stakeholders and also the proper flow of information.... methods of delivery..... evaluation methodology... fine-tuning will always continue,’’ he added.

Dr. Richa Chopra, a  professor at IIT, Kharagpur, dwelt in detail about the ancient Indian Knowledge System and said that it is a treasure. “The things that are mentioned in the NEP have been there in our ancient education system for ages,’’ she said. Dr. Chopra cited extensively from the Vedas and Upanishads to buttress her contention that the ancient Indian Knowledge System laid greater emphasis on making the learner a complete human being through education.

Earlier, in his inaugural speech at the Conclave, Prof D.P.Singh, former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and an advisor to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, said that the objective of the NEP was to make the students responsible citizens. “We have to develop our students as global citizens,’’ he added. Prof Singh said that there was an urgent need to deliberate on how the youths could contribute to making the world cleaner, better, and more sustainable. ‘’We need to look at the world through India’s eyes...we have given so many fundamental concepts to the world like Satya, ahimsa, karuna, respecting each other's culture,’’ he remarked. He said that India had all the potential to become a knowledge superpower. ‘’The main aim of the NEP is to understand and gain knowledge about the self,’’ he said.

In his address, former vice-chancellor of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Prof Avinash Chandra Pandey referred to Nalanda and Taxila universities in ancient India and said that they were great centers of learning. “The university product should be good human beings,” he added.

Director General of Nirma University Dr Anoop Kumar Singh said in his speech that the NEP had taken many things from the American education system. “The test of the pudding is in eating…the US varieties are highly competitive but there is not such competition in India,’’ he added. Dr. Singh underlined the importance of laboratories in higher learning institutes. ‘’We are more lecture oriented. Our labs need to be impoverished,’’ he remarked.

Earlier giving details of the efforts of the VGU in the field of NEP implementation, the varsity President Prof Vijay Vir Singh said that the Conclave was the culmination of a six-month long exercise toward implementation of NEP.

Prof Singh also said that the industry always complained that Indian universities were not creating employable students. “At the VGU we have been Inculcating start-up culture in the students so that they become job providers instead of job seekers,” he said. Prof Singh also referred to the existence of a large number of regulatory bodies which, he, pointed out, created hurdles in the path of implementation of the NEP and urged the concerned officials to look into the same. 

The program ended with a vote of thanks from VGU’s dignitaries. The teachers at VGU were quite enthusiastic about organizing "Saaransh" to put the new education strategy into practice, and every teacher took part. The two-day "Summary" program for implementing the New Education Policy was divided into a total of seven sessions, with time set aside in the final portion of each session for questions and answers to help teachers from VGU better understand how the NEP is being implemented. The new education policy will be put into effect at VGU, the first university in Rajasthan, in the upcoming session.