There are two factors why Indian universities couldn’t do what a national education policy is now trying to achieve. Before implementing NEP, let's understand those first.
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The thing common to all govt in India is that they are very good at making policy but horrendous at implementation. Babus poke their noses in everything and a good idea goes to rot. In the process, the cure becomes worse than the disease itself. The present Modi sarkar also has a similar record of bad implementation of promising policy and ideas. Plus their RSS agenda makes their vision extremely short-sighted and tunnel-like. We can only hope that with this NEP the treatment does not become worse than the disease it is trying to cure. The price for DeMo was paid by India’s poor and small businesses – the price for this one will be paid by our children. That will be an all-round tragedy.
My suggestion is for the govt to try and improve on existing education system by removing middle-men, reducing red-tape and simplifying rules – something similar to the way they improved the subsidy system of the UPA. Let the parents, guided by market forces, decide what they want their children to learn. Making policy is not this govt strong suit.
The UGC is an entity that serves no discernible purpose , other than being an unnecessary bureaucratic impediment for the Universities……When the government intends to channelize grants to universities, it can happen on a one-to-one basis between the concerned ministry/dept and the university’s department…….and if the government is required to have administrative supervision (reservations in admissions and hiring, promotions, staffing concerns and all such), this can happen by placing nodal officers in every government funded university, reporting to the governor (who is afterall the chancellor of the university, right?) of the respective state………..the syllabus, methods and modes of instruction, methods and modes of assessment, the fees , and the programs offered, etc etc, should be totally under the control of the said University subject to approval of the VC and the Chancellor.
So, what useful function does the UGC serve..other than stifling the academic environment with silly bureaucratic dogma….but, that’s hardly useful, no?
So to get rid of babus in UGC you want bigger babus (IAS) in the university senate !!
Best is to give universities Block Grants depending on their performance.
It exists like all government departments to create employment. In India we can probably shut down 75% if government departments and it will make no difference. In all probability things will only improve.
The thing common to all govt in India is that they are very good at making policy but horrendous at implementation. Babus poke their noses in everything and a good idea goes to rot. In the process, the cure becomes worse than the disease itself. The present Modi sarkar also has a similar record of bad implementation of promising policy and ideas. Plus their RSS agenda makes their vision extremely short-sighted and tunnel-like. We can only hope that with this NEP the treatment does not become worse than the disease it is trying to cure. The price for DeMo was paid by India’s poor and small businesses – the price for this one will be paid by our children. That will be an all-round tragedy.
My suggestion is for the govt to try and improve on existing education system by removing middle-men, reducing red-tape and simplifying rules – something similar to the way they improved the subsidy system of the UPA. Let the parents, guided by market forces, decide what they want their children to learn. Making policy is not this govt strong suit.
The UGC is an entity that serves no discernible purpose , other than being an unnecessary bureaucratic impediment for the Universities……When the government intends to channelize grants to universities, it can happen on a one-to-one basis between the concerned ministry/dept and the university’s department…….and if the government is required to have administrative supervision (reservations in admissions and hiring, promotions, staffing concerns and all such), this can happen by placing nodal officers in every government funded university, reporting to the governor (who is afterall the chancellor of the university, right?) of the respective state………..the syllabus, methods and modes of instruction, methods and modes of assessment, the fees , and the programs offered, etc etc, should be totally under the control of the said University subject to approval of the VC and the Chancellor.
So, what useful function does the UGC serve..other than stifling the academic environment with silly bureaucratic dogma….but, that’s hardly useful, no?
So to get rid of babus in UGC you want bigger babus (IAS) in the university senate !!
Best is to give universities Block Grants depending on their performance.
It exists like all government departments to create employment. In India we can probably shut down 75% if government departments and it will make no difference. In all probability things will only improve.