Make education policy a part of national planning: Experts

Experts in the field of education, on Sunday, advocated some points to be included in the proposed national education policy.

Addressing the gathering during a discussion on the policy, organised by Suraksha-Swaraksha organisation at Rotary Centre on JLB Road, here, Anirudh Desphande, former member of the Planning Board of the UGC, from Maharashtra, emphasised on value-based education, restriction on gross enrolment for higher education, setting up of an education commission, making education policy a part of national planning, encouragement to research, setting up of subject-wise universities, changes in benchmarks adopted by national assessment and accreditation council (NAAC) in grading colleges and also making skills a part of the syllabus.

Deshpande said, “Value-based education is the key, as one should be responsible towards his or her motherland, while the cap on gross enrolment is essential to check the rate of unemployment. In the existing scenario, the country is producing more graduates than the requirement, and most of them remain unemployed. Even the Kothari Commission had made similar observations regarding an increase in the enrolment ratio. According to the commission, the number of job-ready graduates or postgraduates should be just two per cent more than the requirement. That apart, an exclusive education commission should be setup with adequate funding from the government, yet it should be autonomous.”

Deshpande promised to forward the deliberations of the meeting to the draft committee of national education policy.

Dr R Balasubramaniam from Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement advocated giving impetus to multiple intelligence on the lines of Gurukula system. Moreover, the policy should be relevant and contextual, he added.

Buttressing Deshpande’s demand for setting up an education commission, Balasubramaniam said, “It should be empowered with consolidated funds of the government, as the danger of regulation looms large, if it comes under the Education department.”

Earlier, former vice-chancellor of Kuvempu University K Chidananda Gowda made a PowerPoint presentation on the recommendations of an experts’ committee headed by himself in the year 2013.

“The committee had categorically stated that IT should be blended with other subjects and due importance should be given to sports, national social service (NSS) and national cadet corps (NCC) among other activities. Instead of three-year undergraduate programme, four-year prog ramme with eight semesters was better to include skill-based education,” Gowda said, quoting the report.