THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after AICTE informed technical institutions and universities about its plans to revise, in association with UGC, the academic calendar of higher education institutions for smooth resumption of academic activities in the post-lockdown period, state government on Thursday appointed a six-member committee to submit a report on how to tackle the lockdown-induced crisis in higher education sector.
Planning board member and Kerala University former vice-chancellor Dr B Ekbal heads the committee that would meet over online platforms to take stock of the current situation and discuss the way ahead. State higher education department has given a week to the committee to submit a report on how the universities in the state could overcome the impact of the lockdown as examinations and classes remain suspended.
Sources close to the development say the higher education circles, especially those in closer proximity to political leadership, have been mooting the idea of downsizing the syllabus, particularly for technical courses, as a smooth way to address the loss of academic days to the pandemic. Such ideas, however, have not gone down well with disciplinarians.
"Since AICTE and UGC have decided to work out a national policy on rearranging the academic calendar and are even contemplating to make changes in the awarding of marks and other examination related criteria, there is little the state government could do with regard to examination and evaluation," sources in higher education sector said.
Vrinda V Nair, dean (research), APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University ,is the convener of the committee. M G University VC Sabu Thomas is another prominent member. "When the examinations are to be conducted next and when the classes are to be started are all hypothetical questions to which nobody would be able to answer now. But we can have a clear understanding about the current position of academic activities and evolve a perception on how to go approach the post-lockdown period. We would be considering the options to reduce the impact of emergency situations on academic activities. The suggestions can be both supplementary and complementary of UGC/AICTE guidelines," she said.
The lockdown has opened new opportunities to try out new technology-based models for academic transactions, said Vrinda. Almost all universities are conducting online classes, mostly by using the technical support and platform provided by Additional Skill Acquisition Programme, under higher education department.
Planning board member and Kerala University former vice-chancellor Dr B Ekbal heads the committee that would meet over online platforms to take stock of the current situation and discuss the way ahead. State higher education department has given a week to the committee to submit a report on how the universities in the state could overcome the impact of the lockdown as examinations and classes remain suspended.
Sources close to the development say the higher education circles, especially those in closer proximity to political leadership, have been mooting the idea of downsizing the syllabus, particularly for technical courses, as a smooth way to address the loss of academic days to the pandemic. Such ideas, however, have not gone down well with disciplinarians.
"Since AICTE and UGC have decided to work out a national policy on rearranging the academic calendar and are even contemplating to make changes in the awarding of marks and other examination related criteria, there is little the state government could do with regard to examination and evaluation," sources in higher education sector said.
Vrinda V Nair, dean (research), APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University ,is the convener of the committee. M G University VC Sabu Thomas is another prominent member. "When the examinations are to be conducted next and when the classes are to be started are all hypothetical questions to which nobody would be able to answer now. But we can have a clear understanding about the current position of academic activities and evolve a perception on how to go approach the post-lockdown period. We would be considering the options to reduce the impact of emergency situations on academic activities. The suggestions can be both supplementary and complementary of UGC/AICTE guidelines," she said.
The lockdown has opened new opportunities to try out new technology-based models for academic transactions, said Vrinda. Almost all universities are conducting online classes, mostly by using the technical support and platform provided by Additional Skill Acquisition Programme, under higher education department.
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