NT NETWORK
Panaji
Former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar has been appointed as the head of the 27-member taskforce committee set up to form higher education policy for the state, based on the national education policy 2020.
Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’, Parsekar said that his focus will be to clear the mayhem currently visible in the state educational field due to the existing age-old education policy, by implementing the new education policy.
“It would be my prudent responsibility to see that the NEP 2020 is properly implemented in the state as early as possible,” said Parsekar, who has long experience in the education sector.
The government has constituted the taskforce committee for chalking out a roadmap for higher education in the state by studying the NEP 2020. Members of the committee include education secretary Nila Mohanan and Vice-Chancellor
of Goa University Varun Sahani, besides the directors of Indian Institute of Technology-Goa and National Institute of Technology-Goa.
Others, including former GU vice-chancellor Satish Shetye and former dean of Goa Medical College V N Jindal, are also on the taskforce committee.
Higher education director Prasad Lolyenkar is the member secretary of this committee.
The committee has no deadline to submit its report to the government.
Parsekar said that when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant asked him to chair the taskforce committee, he readily agreed.
“I had in fact already read the policy document, and was happy that some of its provisions as regards integrated educational degree courses such as B.Sc B.Ed and B.A B.Ed were already implemented in my educational institution at Harmal in Pernem taluka, some five-six years ago,” Parsekar said.
The NEP 2020 lays down that the teacher education will be gradually moved into multidisciplinary colleges and universities by 2030 and by then the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a four-year integrated B.Ed.
Parsekar said the existing policy was creating many difficulties for the students.
“For example, they were forced to study outlandish things under history, as also those average students, who has no plan to go for specialisation in mathematics were made to study cumbersome things like trigonometry, calculus and so on, thus hampering their progress,” he stated, observing that the new education policy would ensure that the students would get to opt for courses as per their learning capacity.
Maintaining that the existing longstanding education policy forced many average students to drop out of school, Parsekar said the NEP 2020 will make education an enjoyable process for students rather than a burden on their head.
“The NEP 2020 will be focusing on the multidisciplinary approach, which in turn will allow the students to switch their line of education, if they find the one they are following is not suited to their liking,” he added, pointing out that now, under a four-year undergraduate programme with multiple exit options for students, a multi-disciplinary bachelor’s degree will be awarded after completing four years of study, while students exiting after two years will get a diploma and those leaving after 12 months would have studied a vocational/professional course.
Meanwhile, the higher education directorate has already invited inputs from stakeholders for the implementation of the NEP 2020 in Goa, which will assist the taskforce committee in preparing the related road map for the state.
The inputs have been invited from students, teachers, professionals, experts and other stakeholders.
The NEP 2020 approved by the Union cabinet last month replaces the 34-year-old national policy on education framed in 1986. The policy has expanded the scope of foundational education, increasing the school-going years from three to 18 instead of the prevalent six to 14 years.
