Bengaluru: The state government will issue an official order ending option for students to pursue a four-year honours degree programme in Karnataka which was implemented under the National Education Policy (NEP).
The higher education department, which is waiting for the second phase of polling to get over in Karnataka on May 7, will issue an order banning the honours courses on May 8. With this, the current batch of students admitted under the NEP, who are in the third year now, will be the last to get the option of continuing into fourth year.
This has been communicated to the vice-chancellors of all state-run universities by the officials of higher education department during a recent meeting. Confirming this, a source from the department said, "An official order on withdrawing the four-year honours programme will be issued after the elections."
The official even stated that the vice-chancellors had been informed to communicate to the students while receiving the applications for 2024-25 admissions that there will be no four-year honours programmes. "The vice-chancellors have been informed to admit students for a three-year degree course," the source added.
This decision will be taken based on the interim report submitted by the State Education Policy (SEP) commission, headed by former chairperson of University Grants Commission Sukhadeo Thorat. Though the commission sought time till August 2024 to submit its final report, it had submitted the interim report on the four-year honours programme as students admitted under the NEP were under confusion.
"As the students are in their final-year, the universities need to clarify whether they will be given a degree certificate or allowed to continue for fourth year, considering that it has been decided to issue an official order as soon as the second phase of elections in the state is over," the official said.
Published 01 May 2024, 23:11 IST