NEP: A game-changing reform to transform educational scenario

JAMMU, MARCH 10:  J&K administration has taken a big leap in the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The government is mainly focusing on the skilling and employability of students, besides the promotion of local languages and culture. Vocational courses, co-curriculum activities, and student exchange programmes will be made an integral part of the education system under NEP.

National Education Policy (NEP) was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 28, 2020, to transform the educational scenario of the country.

After a gap of 34 years, the government consolidated feedback from 2.5 lakh village-level stakeholders to two national parliamentary level committees, over more than 50 months of consultations and workshops.

.Higher Education Department has started taking initiatives for the implementation of NEP-2020 For equitable access, gender parity, and to uplift Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs), the JKHED has taken several initiatives and executed several states and centrally sponsored schemes.

Lieutenant Governor’s Sustainable Development Fellowship (LGSDF) is started in 2021 to provide a platform for highly motivated young professionals to contribute towards strategic planning and implementation of development policies and initiatives in the union territory

Under the AICTE-Pragati scheme, 124 students have been benefited and the number is increasing year by year.

Under the PMSSS, 4488 students were granted scholarships last year to pursue undergraduate studies outside Jammu and Kashmir.

AICTE-Saksham scholarship scheme is also successfully executed for physically disabled students.

The Department is offering several programmes at the UG and PG level to promote the Indian rich knowledge in Arts, Music, Sanskrit, Linguistics, Urdu, Punjabi, Dogri, and Environmental Sciences. For skill enhancement and employability, the department of higher Education has identified 16-degree colleges to start B.Vocational from the next academic session.

To boost research and innovation and integration of technology, several Research, and Innovation centers, innovation & Incubation Centers, Browsing Centers, Smart/Digital have been established in degree colleges. Moreover, the process has also been initiated for establishing Centers for invention innovation, incubation & training (CIIITs) in 14 different colleges under PPP mode.

For improving the quality of teaching and learning, the department has taken several initiatives for NAAC accreditation of Degree colleges in UT of Jammu and Kashmir. A target of 100 colleges has been set to get NAAC accredited by December 2022.

To address, “access including online and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) education”, and “Transforming education through the integration of technology”, the JK Higher education is going to launch “JK e-Governance system” for networking all degree colleges on a single platform, to support monitoring of Institutes, Online Learning, and Teaching, online submission of documents.

Under NEP-2020, the Higher Education Department of J&K is mainly focusing on establishing a more holistic and multidisciplinary education in UT of J&K besides introduction of B.Vocational courses (Bachelor of Vocational Education), Introduction of Honors/Ph.D. Programmes in GDCs as well as the establishment of the Academic Bank of Credit(ABC) in HEIs also form the core objective of HED under NEP-2020.

Moreover, Catalyzing Quality Academic Research in All Fields through a new National Research Foundation, JK- Research Foundation and the establishment of Innovation and Incubation centers in colleges also form the major objectives of HED under NEP.

Further, the government also plans for institutional Restructuring and Consolidation Accreditation of Govt. Degree Colleges and moving towards Autonomy as well as boosting faculty/student exchange programme.