Experts flay draft higher education framework

From the proposed entrance test to undergraduate courses to reducing State to merely an implementing agency, academicians from the State have highlighted several issues with the Draft National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) even before Tamil Nadu government has announced its position on the matter. Many experts have asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) not to finalise the proposal in haste before discussing the facets of the draft that they find troublesome.

The draft NHEQF highlights various formulas and options based on which students from both school and higher educational institutions can be assessed at every level. The new patterns include generic learning outcomes, constitutional, ethical and moral principles, employment-ready skills, entrepreneurship attitude, and knowledge and skill application.

The commission has sought feedback and suggestions on the draft. However, when DT Next reached out to stakeholders, including academicians and various teachers’ fora, it was found that very few experts have responded to it.

While the State government has raised steadfast opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP), there is no official confirmation either from School Education Department or the Higher Education Department so far on whether they have sent the feedback to the UGC on implementing the framework in Tamil Nadu.

A senior official from the School Education Department pointed out that for the past nearly a month, officials were busy with the urban local body elections were in the process. The official critique on the draft framework would be taken up soon, as the results of the civic polls are to be announced on Tuesday. “Feedback on the draft NHEQ might be given by both School and Higher Education Departments,” he added.

One of the associations to give its suggestion for amendments is State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), an umbrella organisation comprising various stakeholders.

“The question whether reducing the democratically elected State government to that of an implementing agency is in accordance with the vision and provisions of the Constitution needs to be answered before proceeding with the finalisation of the draft NHEQF,” said PB Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, SPCSS-TN. Under the proposal, the Union government would take all decisions while the responsibility to implement the decisions taken by the Centre, including mobilisation of resources, would be vested with State government, he alleged. “This is the crudest form of diarchy, which is new to the modern democracy,” added the academician.

The draft NHEQF proposes a mandatory entrance test like NEET, the national-level test that has courted controversy and widespread opposition in the State, for admission to any undergraduate course. “It is not because the students can’t compete, but because they don’t have sufficient time and their family circumstances do not permit them to undergo separate coaching for the eligibility or entrance exam,” he said.

Alleging that the New Education Policy and the draft framework failed to take note of the vision and provisions of the Constitution, he said, “If the draft NHEQF is finalised and implemented in the present form, it will destroy public higher education institutes in the states and pave the way for total commercialisation of education.”

P Rathanasabapathy, counsellor, Thamizhaa Institute of Educational Research and Advancement (TIERA), who too has submitted feedback to the commission, expressed fears that if the draft framework is implemented in its present form, it would reduce the number of government colleges in the near future. According to him, nearly two-thirds of the colleges in TN could be defunct 2030.

Noting how the draft suggests directing colleges to either become multi-disciplinary and autonomous or merge with universities that granted affiliation to them, the senior educationist said, “If they are forced to become multi-disciplinary and autonomous without adequate and assured financial support, the government and aided colleges would not survive.” P Murugaiyan, a former headmaster of a government school and a winner of the prestigious National Best Teacher award pointed out yet another facet of the draft that he found troublesome: it gives more exit options instead of providing the necessary support and encouragement for educationally backward classes to complete studies. Ddraft was prepared without any research to understand the cause for social and educational backwardness, he criticised.

“Treating the socially and educationally backward on a par with the affluent section is a great injustice and against the spirit and vision of the Constitution. The NEP 2020 and draft NHEQF are, in effect, a device to establish monocultural nationalism,” he said.