Constituted to recommend a basic framework of new National Education Policy
Major Recommendations:
- Government should reinstate detention of students beyond Class V. As of now, under the Right to Education, all children are ensured promotion each year up to Class VIII
- Set up an all-India cadre of educational services on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
- The outlay on education should be raised to at least 6% of GDP without further loss of time
- There should be minimum eligibility condition with 50% marks at graduate level for entry to existing B.Ed courses. Teacher Entrance Tests (TET) should be made compulsory for recruitment of all teachers. The Centre and states should jointly lay down norms and standards for TET
- Compulsory licensing or certification for teachers in government and private schoolsshould be made mandatory, with provision for renewal every 10 years based on independent external testing
- Pre-school education for children in the age group of 4 to 5 years should be declared as a right and a programme for it implemented immediately
- The mid-day meal (MDM) program should now be extended to cover students of secondary schools. This is necessary as levels of malnutrition and anaemia continue to be high among adolescents.
- Drastic overhaul of regulators such as the UGC and AICTE
- Allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India under a strict regulatory framework
- Compulsory quality audit of all higher education institutions, both private and public, in three years
- The panel has proposed that colleges and universities should consider derecognizing student political groups which are based on caste and religion
Why Panel recommended restriction on political activities in college?
Panel thinks that agitations, movements, gheraos etc. have become a regular affair on the campus and they interfere with the normal academic activities of the colleges/universities
Why this restriction is a bad idea?
- Campus politics gives future leaders of nation.
- Caste and religion based politics has many a times provided a great platform to the under privileged sections to assert their voice and interests
Why does the committee want to scrap/overhaul UGC?
The report says that the UGC has been unable over the years to effectively implement its regulations aimed at ensuring the quality of higher education in the country. Hence, the UGC act should be allowed to lapse.
Widespread irregularities in grant of approval of institutions and courses were also found by the committee. Also, there are serious concerns about the quality of education provided by a large number of colleges/universities. But, UGC has failed in its responsibility to monitor standards of education in higher education institutions and it has not succeeded in ensuring this. Besides, the credibility of the UGC has been seriously dented by approvals given to a large number of sub-standard colleges and deemed universities
What would replace UGC as per committee?
The panel has instead suggested an alternative arrangement for a pruned UGC. The UGC could be revamped, made considerably leaner and thinner, and could be the nodal point for administration of the proposed National Higher Education Fellowship Programme, without any other promotional or regulatory function
What are the clashes between RTE Act and this new Education Policy?
- The draft National Education Policy insisting on “consolidation” i.e. it proposes merging “small, non-viable” schools. This subverts the RTE Act on neighbourhood schools being located “within a walking distance of one kilometre” for children attending Classes 1 to 5.
- The draft emphasizes “school mapping” – as opposed to RTE’s “child-mapping” – but stresses that for children attending “non-viable” schools, transport must be provided.
- The proposal to extend the 25% economically weaker section quota in private schools to minority institutions will also need an amendment. The committee notes that number of schools claiming religious or linguistic minority status has increased tremendously.
- The RTE mandates a no-detention policy -banning grade-repetition -till Class VIII; the draft wants it limited to Class V. Its recommendations cover remedial classes “by school teachers or volunteers” and supplementary examinations.
- The committee suggests amending the RTE to “provide, in addition to infrastructure, learning outcome norms that affect quality of education”, a longstanding private school demand.
Note : Use this name in questions related to education reforms.