Karnataka: SEP implementation is unlikely this academic year

Bengaluru: The recommendations of the State Education Policy (SEP) Commission are unlikely to be implemented from the present academic year.

Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar on Thursday said that both Higher Education and School Education and Literacy departments have to submit a consolidated report on the recommendations to the government before it is placed in the Cabinet.

“The report has several volumes of 400 to 500 pages and it is not possible for the Cabinet to study it. Hence both School Education and Higher Education departments have been asked to form an expert committee to submit a consolidated report on the recommendations,” Sudhakar said.

Meanwhile, Sudhakar stated that as far as higher education is concerned, the recommendations made in the interim report have been already implemented. “In higher education, it is only improvements we need to look at, because a majority of recommendations have been implemented as per the interim report,” he said.

The state government has extended the Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme to 68 government degree colleges as against the 43 colleges selected last year.

For this purpose the department of Higher Education has entered into a partnership with the Board of Apprenticeship Training. This year the students do not have to pay a fee of Rs 5,000. Around 2,700 students have enrolled for these programmes this year.