National Education Policy: Suggestions by Gujarat will be looked into, says UGC chairman

“Ten different teams have been set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to look into the suggestions. One such proposals from Gujarat for sector-based universities would be looked into and will reflect in the final draft,” UGC Chairman DP Singh said.

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These issues were discussed in the presence of education ministers of different states during the Central Advisory Board of Education meeting last week.

Important issues missed out in the National Education Policy (NEP), including the suggestions for “sector-based universities” such as yoga university, sports university, teachers university and others, submitted by Gujarat would be discussed, said UGC Chairman D P Singh while speaking on the draft NEP on the sidelines of the national VC conference at Gujarat Vidyapith Monday.

“Ten different teams have been set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to look into the suggestions. One such proposals from Gujarat for sector-based universities would be looked into and will reflect in the final draft,” Singh said.

Agreeing with Singh, M M Salunkhe, president of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and Vice-Chancellor of Bharti Vidyapith, Pune, said, “In Gujarat, a different university is there for every subject, but the new policy (NEP) says universities should be multi-disciplinary. We are saying that you have set up an entire system which is successfully running so why would you close it down? We have given this in writing.”

These issues were discussed in the presence of education ministers of different states during the Central Advisory Board of Education meeting last week.

It is to be noted that most of these specialised universities were announced by the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and came into existence during his tenure.

The AIU had also objected to the merger of colleges as proposed in the draft where existing 40,000 colleges are to be converted into 15,000. “Also, we opposed the scrapping of UGC. If you are doing this in a hurry, what about funding of universities? We are discussing these with the government,” Salunkhe added.

Speaking on the proposed changes in the NEP, UGC Chairman added, “Discussions are being made on making it an India-centric education policy where liberal education is encouraged along with choice-based credit system.”