Education

National Education Policy, 2020: Early Childhood Care and Education

Importance of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

  • Critical Age: More than 85% of a child's brain development happens before age 6, underscoring the vital role of early care and brain stimulation for healthy growth and brain development.
  • Realisation of Potential: When children are healthy and learning well in their early years, they are better able to reach their full developmental potential and participate effectively in economic, social, and civic life at adulthood.
  • Inclusive Development: Providing ECCE is regarded as a means of promoting equity and social justice, inclusive economic growth and advancing sustainable development.
  • Foundation for Future Learning: According to Neuroscience a child’s early experiences can provide either a strong or a fragile foundation for later learning, development and behaviours.  
  • High Rate of Return: The larger economic returns on investment in prior-to-school programmes than in programmes for adolescents and adults has been demonstrated.  
  • Decrease Dropout Rate: Educational sciences have revealed that participation in early childhood care and education programmes boosts children’s school readiness and reduces the gap between socially advantaged and disadvantaged children.
  • Foundational Skilling: It promotes social skills, ethics, teamwork, aiming for optimal outcomes in physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, cultural, and communication domains.
  • Human Right Perspective: Expanding quality early learning is an important means for realizing the right to education within a lifelong learning perspective. 

Provision for ECCE under National Education Policy 

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In the new 5+3+3+4 structure of New Education Policy 2020, a strong base of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) from age 3 is included, which is aimed at promoting better overall learning, development, and well-being.

  • New Pedagogical Framework: NCERT will create the National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) in two parts: one for 0–3-year-olds and another for 3–8-year-olds.
    • Framework must align with guidelines, recent ECCE research, and global best practices. 
    • It will incorporate India's rich ECCE traditions including art, stories, games, and serve as a guide for parents and institutions.
  • Social Inclusivity: The main goal is universal access to high-quality ECCE across the country, prioritizing socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
    • ECCE will be delivered through expanded institutions:
      • Stand-alone Anganwadis, 
      • Anganwadis with primary schools,
      • Pre-primary schools/sections (age 5-6) with existing primary schools
      • Stand-alone pre-schools
    • Specially trained teachers will handle ECCE curriculum and pedagogy.
  • Infrastructure Development: Anganwadi Centers will enhance infrastructure, play equipment, and train workers/teachers for universal ECCE access.
    • Each center will feature child-friendly buildings with enriched learning environments. 
    • Children will have activity tours to local primary schools, facilitating a seamless transition. 
    • Anganwadis will integrate with school clusters, promoting interaction between Anganwadi and school communities.
  • Balavatika: Before age 5, every child will join a "Preparatory Class" or "Balavatika" with an ECCE-qualified teacher.
    • Learning will be play-based, emphasizing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills, early literacy, and numeracy. 
    • Mid-day meals will extend to Preparatory Classes, and health check-ups and growth monitoring from Anganwadi system will cover both Anganwadi and primary school Preparatory Class students.
  • Teacher Training Framework: For quality ECCE teachers in Anganwadis, current workers/teachers will be trained per NCERT's framework.
    • Those with 10+2 qualifications get a 6-month ECCE certificate, while others receive a one-year diploma, covering literacy and numeracy. 
    • Digital methods like DTH and smartphones will be allowed for convenient learning. 
    • Training is overseen by School Education's Cluster Resource Centres, including monthly contact classes. 
    • Long-term plans involve State Governments preparing professionally qualified ECCE educators through training, mentoring, and career development, along with facilities for initial preparation and Continuous Professional Development.
  • Extension to Tribal Areas: ECCE will extend to Tribal Ashramshalas and alternative schools gradually. 
  • Overseeing Framework: Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) will oversee ECCE curriculum for seamless pre-primary to primary education, emphasizing foundational aspects.
    • Curriculum planning and implementation involve joint efforts by Ministries of HRD, Women Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Tribal Affairs. 
    • A dedicated joint task force will ensure the smooth integration of ECCE into school education.

Challenges to implementation of ECCE

  • Policy fragmentation: ECCE policies and services are fragmented and do not leverage whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to addressing the holistic needs and rights of families and their young children. 
  • Lack of public provision: The presence of non-state actors like private schools, NGOs etc. in ECCE is more evident than public counterpart. 
  • Insufficient regulation of the sector: There is a lack of effective regulation, and it does not establish quality assurance mechanisms that focus on outcomes.
  • Chronic underfunding: An average of 3% of the education budget, which is very little, is allocated to education in which the share of ECCE becomes minimal. Even in terms of international aid, pre-primary education remains the least funded sector.

Suggestions 

  • Expanding and diversifying access: Increasing investment to expand ECCE services are essential steps. Innovative ECCE delivery mechanisms such as mobile kindergartens with teachers, equipment for learning and play.  
  • Enhancing quality and relevance: ECCE curriculum frameworks should cover different aspects of early learning and prepare children with essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions with focusing on smooth transition to formal education.
  • Making ECCE educators and caregivers a transforming force: For the transformation of ECCE to take place, ECCE educators need to be adequately supported and empowered to play their part.
  • Improving governance and stakeholder participation: Carving out a role for School governance and participation of society at large in the implementation of the ECCE framework.  
  • Using funding to steer ECCE development: Strengthening domestic public financing is important for providing affordable ECCE. Innovative financing may include earmarking resources from economic activities and other sources.
  • Monitoring and Assessment: Availability and reliability of data obtained from assessments of ECCE framework will enable efficient and timely monitoring of programmes and child developmental milestones.
  • Galvanize international cooperation and solidarity: Participation in the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education can be an opportunity to mobilize existing global, regional, and national networks to increase focus on identifying and sharing innovations, policies and practices.

Reimagining the role of state universities in science education

What is the present status regarding STEM education in India?

  • India produces over 25 lakh graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) every year, across bachelors and masters courses.
  • Among STEM graduates, the aggregate enrolment of students in BSc courses is close to 50 lakh.
  • However, the number of science graduates drops to 2.9 lakh at the masters level (25% of BSc graduates), and even further at the doctoral level, with only 6,000 science PhDs awarded each year.
  • In the QS Global Ranking of 1,000 universities from 82 countries, there are only 23 Indian institutions, with IIT Mumbai at 152, followed by IIT Delhi at 182 and IISc Bengaluru at 184 ranks. 
  • India produced 25,550 doctorates in 2020-21, of which 14,983 were in science and engineering disciplines. This 59 per cent proportion in the overall doctorates compares well with other countries, putting India in the seventh rank overall. 
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What are the associated challenges?

  • Lack of Funding - The expenditure on research as a proportion of GDP has gone down, from about 0.8 per cent at the start of this millennium to about 0.65 per cent now. For the last decade or so, this share has remained stagnant.
  • Lack of research - Only one per cent of universities engage in active research, according to the detailed project report on NRF on account of poor coordination between various departments and lack of interdisciplinary approach.
  • Intellectual property - In 2021, a total of 61,573 patents were filed in India, making it the sixth largest in the world. But this was nowhere close to the nearly 16 lakh patents filed in China, and about six lakhs in the United States that year.

What does NEP 2020 say about this?

  • NEP proposes to increase the overall proportion of Public Expenditure on Education from 10% to 20.9% in the next 10 years. 
  • Of this additional 10.9%, a major share of 5% has been assigned for strengthening the quality / faculty /operations at universities and colleges. 
  • In addition, it recommends greater contribution from the private sector and ‘Not-for-profit’ organisations in education.

What is NRF? 

It was recommended by N.E.P 2020 with a total estimated cost of Rs 50000 cr during five years (2023-28)An apex body to provide high-level strategic direction of scientific research in the country.

Department of Science and Technology (DST) will be the administrative Department of NRF which will be governed by a Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines.Prime Minister will be the ex-officio President of the Board and the Union Minister of Science & Technology & Union Minister of Education will be the ex-officio Vice-Presidents. NRF’s functioning will be governed by an Executive Council chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

NRF will forge collaborations among the industry, academia, and government departments and research institutions, and create an interface mechanism for participation and contribution of industries and State governments in addition to the scientific and line ministries. It will focus on creating a policy framework and putting in place regulatory processes that can encourage collaboration and increased spending by the industry on R&D.

Recently, the government has introduced NRF bill 2023 which will repeal the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) established by an act of Parliament in 2008 and subsume it into NRF which has an expanded mandate and covers activities over and above the activities of SERB.

What can be a way ahead?

  • Differentiate the needs for science and technology for a) Science education, b) Professional education and c) Vocational education.
  • Take definite steps to upgrade pedagogical capacity of the science teachers at school, college and university levels and ensure that every school has a science laboratory equipped with fundamental facilities.
  • Identify universities for research grants on the bases of their performance, scientific strength and any special needs which are location specific. 
  • A number of scientists of Indian origin are doing excellent research in the countries abroad. Such persons may be invited to work in India on sabbatical and mentor young researchers. 
  • Healthy collaboration with the private sector R&D facilities could be a win-win situation for faster development of technology and their innovative application. Best performing students may be given an opportunity to work as interns in the private labs with a possibility of placement.
  • Identify programmes in the critical fields for every five years. Strengthen the ones where India has a comparative advantage, or is at par with the global competence.

14 States are yet to join Centre’s flagship education scheme

Context: Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are among 14 States and Union Territories which are yet to sign a crucial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Education Ministry, which mandates the implementation of the National Education Policy in order to avail funds worth almost ₹13,000 crore for the next three years, under the Centre’s flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri- Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) for State-run higher education.

About Pradhan Mantri- Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) 

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to fund State/UTs institutions, with the vision to attain higher levels of access, equity, and excellence in the State higher education system with greater efficiency, transparency, accountability, and responsiveness.

The scheme's first phase was launched in 2013 and the second phase was established in 2018. Now, in the light of the National Education Policy, the RUSA scheme has been launched as Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA).

  • It covers government and government-aided institutions of the States and UTs.

Objectives of PM-USHA

  • To improve the overall quality of existing state higher educational institutions by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards and adoption of accreditation as a quality assurance framework; 
  • Usher transformative reforms in the State higher education system by creating a facilitating institutional structure for planning and monitoring at the state level, promoting autonomy in State Universities, and improving governance in institutions; 
  • Implementation of recommendations of the NEP 2020 through funding support provided to State HEIs;
  • Ensure governance, academic, and examination (and evaluation) reforms in the State higher educational institutions and establish backwards and forward linkages with school education on one hand and employment market, on the other hand, to facilitate self-reliance and thus create an Atma-Nirbhar Bharat; 
  • Create an enabling atmosphere in the higher educational institutions to devote themselves to research and innovations; 
  • Correct regional imbalances in access to higher education by facilitating access to high-quality institutions in urban & semi‐urban areas, creating opportunities for students from rural areas to get access to better quality institutions, and setting up institutions in unserved & underserved areas;
  • Developing infrastructure for ODL/Online/Digital mode of education in such States/UTs;
  • Improve equity in higher education by providing adequate opportunities for higher education to socially deprived communities; promote inclusion of women, minorities, SC/ST/OBCs, and special-abled persons; 
  • To identify and fill up the existing gaps in higher education, by augmenting and supporting the State Governments’ efforts; 
  • Enhancing employability through skilling and vocationalization; 
  • Improving the accreditation status of accredited institutions and getting accreditation of non-accredited institutions; 
  • Providing better hostel facilities in remote areas; 
  • Establishing New Model Degree Colleges in the districts where there are no Government and Government-aided institutions; 
  • Focusing on low GER, Left Wing Extremism (LWE), border area districts, aspirational districts and districts with higher SC/ ST populations; and 
  • Focus on multidisciplinary education, including STEM, commerce and humanities fields of education.

How the Performance Grading Index assesses states in school education

Context: The Education Ministry released Sunday's latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) edition. This relatively new index measures the performance of states in school education.

How is PGI worked out?

  • It assesses states’ performance in school education based on data drawn from several sources, including the Unified District Information System for Education Plus, National Achievement Survey, and Mid-Day Meal.
  • States are scored on a total of 1,000 points across 70 parameters, which are grouped under five broad categories:
  1. Access (e.g. enrolment ratio, transition rate and retention rate);
  2. Governance and management;
  3. Infrastructure;
  4. Equity (difference in performance between scheduled caste students and general category students) and
  5. Learning outcomes (average score in mathematics, science, languages and social science).
  • States are graded and not ranked to discourage the practice of one improving only at the cost of others, “thereby casting a stigma of underperformance on the latter”.
  • According to the government, the objective is to help the states prioritise areas for intervention in school education.
  • The Education Ministry released the first PGI in 2019 for the reference year 2017-18.

What does the grading system reflect?

  • The PGI grading system has 10 levels.
  • Level 1 indicates top-notch performance and a score between 951 and 1,000 points.
  • Level II, or Grade 1++, indicates a score between 901 and 950.
  • Those with Grade 1+ (or Level III) have scored between 851 and 900.
  • The lowest is Grade VII, which means a score between 0 and 550 points.
PGI report card 2019-20

How have states performed this time?

  • In PGI 2019-20, no state or Union Territory could achieve the highest grade, that is Level I.
  • Even in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 editions, no state had reached Level 1 and Grade 1++.
  • Chandigarh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andaman, Nicobar, and Kerala scored more than 90% and obtained Grade 1++ (or Level II), making them the best-performing states.
  • This is the first time that any state has reached Level II.
  • The top-performing states of Gujarat, Chandigarh, and Kerala in 2018-19 were given Grade 1+ (or Level III), which is a score between 851 and 900 points.
  • Only the UT of Ladakh has been placed in the lowest grade, Grade VII, but that’s because it was the first time it was assessed after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

What are the areas where the states still have to improve?

  • According to the report, states and UTs mainly need to improve their performance in terms of governance processes.
  • This domain carries several parameters, including teacher availability, teachers’ training, regular inspection, and availability of finances.
  • In the domain of Governance Processes, there are 24 States/UTs which have scored less than 288 (80% of the maximum possible score). It implies that this is the area many States and UTs must focus on.
  • The PGI too accords the highest importance to this Domain because compliance with the indicators here will lead to critical structural reforms in areas ranging from monitoring the attendance of teachers to ensuring transparent recruitment of teachers and principals.
  • The second area that requires attention is the Domain for Infrastructure and Facilities, where twenty States/UTs have scored less than 120 (80% of the maximum possible score in this domain).
  • Two States, Bihar (81) and Meghalaya (87) recorded the lowest scores in this domain.
  • This is a cause for concern as a proper school building with adequate facilities is a must to improve the overall quality of school education.

Rankings, and the Realities of higher education

Context: The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) recently released the India Rankings for 2023. Notwithstanding some of the criticisms on the methodology adopted and the parameters chosen by the Ministry of Education, a scrutiny of the 2023 edition as well as some of the available data on higher education raises some important issues warranting policy attention.

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About NIRF

  •  The NIRF evaluates institutions on five parameters: teaching, learning and resources; graduation outcome; research and professional practices; outreach and inclusivity; and perception.
  •  Ranks are assigned based on the sum of marks institutions secured on each parameter.

Issues associated with NIRF Ranking

  •  The first is the issue of the participation of institutions.
  •  According to the Ministry of Education, in this edition of NIRF, 5,543 institutions offered themselves for ranking under overall, category-specific or domain-specific ranking.
  • In all, 8,686 applications for ranking were submitted by these institutions.
  • This has to be seen in conjunction with the total number of universities and colleges in India.
  • As per the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021, there were 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges in 2020-21.
  • This implies that only 12.3% of higher educational institutions participated in the ranking process.
  • That there is near to no information on the parameters decided by NIRF for the remaining 87.7% of higher education institutions is a matter of concern, especially for a nation aspiring to reap rich demographic dividends.
  • This issue gets accentuated further when we examine the rural-urban divide in participation.
  • The list of the top 100 colleges shows a scant presence of colleges from rural areas.
  •  AISHE data show that about 43% of the universities and 61.4% of colleges are in rural areas.
  • The lack of participation of institutions from rural areas raises questions on the inherent urban bias of the ranking framework, reinforced by choice of parameters.

The second issue is the incongruence between quantity and quality.

  •  Of the top 100 colleges ranked by NIRF, 35 are from Tamil Nadu, 32 are from Delhi, 14 are from Kerala, and the remaining are from the rest of India.
  •  According to AISHE, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of colleges in the country, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.
  • The list of top 100 colleges does not feature a single college from U.P. It features three colleges from Maharashtra and two from Karnataka.
  • The fact that 81% of high-quality colleges are in three States highlights the need for a mission to improve quality across the country, with both the Union government and the States earmarking substantial funds in their respective budgets for this.
  •  Quality differences are evident between private and government institutions as well.
  • In the overall rankings, the highest rank secured by a private institution is 15.
  • In the university rankings, the highest rank secured by a private institution is six.
  • There is also tremendous scope for many more State universities to figure in this list.
  • If the quality of State universities is enhanced, it would also serve students in rural locations.

The third issue stems from the close correlation between faculty strength and rankings.

  •  A comparison between the top 100 and the remaining institutions shows vast differences in this regard.
  • The average number of faculty in the top 100 universities is 645, while for the remaining universities, it is only 242.
  •  In the case of colleges, it is 173 for colleges in the top 100 list and 71 for the remaining institutes.
  • Needless to say, quality education cannot be provided by brick and mortar alone.
  • Even in the case of engineering, where the ranking is often advertised by the institutions, only 33.98% adhere to the AICTE-prescribed faculty-student ratio of 1:20.
  • 87.71% of the scholarly output from India comes from eligible institutions in the overall category.
  • This means that 12.3% of institutions that have participated in the ranking contribute close to 90% of scholarly output in the country.
  • This is even more startling in the case of engineering, where 99.98% of total scientific publications came from the institutions participating in the rankings.
  • Interestingly, in management, 50% of the institutions which applied for being included in the rankings had zero publications.
  • The rankings underscore the urgent need for quality enhancement in the higher education system.

A Model for Quality and inclusive education

Context: Recently, the National Institutional Ranking Framework ranking of the top 100 colleges in India reveals the consistent success of Tamil Nadu in providing higher education that is both of good quality and inclusive.

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Performance of Tamil Nadu

  • Share of colleges of the top 100 NIRF-ranked colleges in 2023, Tamil Nadu has the largest share (35).
  • Delhi (32) comes next, followed by Kerala (14) and West Bengal (8).
  • These four States collectively contribute to 89% of the top colleges, which speaks volumes about other regions.
  • Bigger States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Odisha do not have a single college in the top 100.
  • Even the share of the other southern States is abysmal: Karnataka has two colleges, Telangana has one, and Andhra Pradesh has none.
  • The share of Tamil Nadu (35%) is more than double the combined share of the other four southern States (17%).

Is the stellar performance of Tamil Nadu consistent or sporadic?

  • The NIRF ranking of colleges since 2017 reveals that Tamil Nadu has been consistent as the lead contributor of top-ranking colleges in India.
  • Even if we confine the focus to the last five years, when the number of colleges participating in the NIRF ranking grew rapidly, Tamil Nadu retained its top position (except in 2022, when Delhi was on par with Tamil Nadu).
  •  As the table shows, except in the categories of Colleges and Universities, the number of T.N. institutions bagging top ranks either stayed the same or declined marginally. The numbers in brackets indicate the total number of top-ranked institutions for the respective categories in the NIRF report

Concentrated or dispersed?

  • Chennai accounts for only nine (26%) colleges. Coimbatore, with an equal share, competes with Chennai quite consistently.
  • Tiruchirappalli, with five colleges (14%), is next. The remaining 12 (out of 35) colleges are widely spread across 11 places.
  •  This broad pattern was seen in other years too. The largest beneficiaries from Chennai, Coimbatore, and Tiruchirappalli will likely be urban dwellers.
  • Yet, the top-ranked 23 colleges from these three cities, which belong to three different regions, might be equally serving the poor and disadvantaged social groups both from these regions as well as those contiguous to them.

How Tamil Nadu Achieved This Inclusive Model of Education?

  • This is because Tamil Nadu not only has one of the highest reservation quotas but also has been quite effective in its implementation of the reservation policy.
  •  Additionally, since more than one-third of the top-ranked colleges are dispersed across places, they not only cater largely to the rural and under-served areas, but also provide an opportunity for quality education for students from poor and disadvantaged social groups who do not have the economic resources and social networks to study in colleges from Chennai, Coimbatore, and Tiruchirappalli.

Conclusion

Tamil Nadu’s impressive and consistent performance in higher education shows that quality and inclusion can be achieved together and consistently. This finding should prompt other southern States, which also have a reasonably inclusive and effective social welfare architecture, to introspect why they lag far behind and inspire them to take action to rectify issues.

E-education platforms, their Generative AI chapter

Context: The Massive Open Online Courses have gained a lot of currency in the last one decade. However, use of Artificial Intelligence has provided impetus to the growth of MOOCs in the recent years.

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Background of MOOCs

  • Between 2008-2011, a new genre of online courses titled ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ (MOOCs) made their entry, driven by reputed institutions of learning. 
  • Stanford University in 2011 brought first institutional course using MOOC model.
  • Most known and famous MOOC was edX launched by Harvard and MIT in joint effort. 
  • As of 2021, there existed nearly 35 MOOCS Learning Management Systems (LMS) spread across North America, Asia and Europe.
  • India’s ‘Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM) launched in 2017 by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. It is one of the world’s largest learning e-portals.

Challenges faced by MOOCs

  • Fragile financial situation
  • Very high operating cost and maintenance expenses
  • Steep marketing cost
  • Very low and competitive fee structure
  • High dropout rates by entry level learners.

However, in the recent years, artificial intelligence has become a vital tool to make MOOC more interactive and attractive as a platform. In the current case Generative Artificial Intelligence has made an impressive performance in retaining the utility of the MOOCs.

What is Generative AI?

  • Generative artificial intelligence refers to a subset of AI techniques and models that are designed to generate new content or data that is similar to, or indistinguishable from, real human-generated content. It involves training models to learn patterns and structures from existing data and then using that knowledge to generate new, original content.
  • Generative AI models can be used in various applications such as image synthesis, text generation, music composition, and even video generation. These models are often based on deep learning techniques, particularly generative models such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), variational autoencoders (VAEs), or transformers.
  • GANs, for example, consist of two components: a generator and a discriminator. The generator learns to generate new data samples, such as images, by trying to fool the discriminator into thinking that the generated samples are real. The discriminator, on the other hand, learns to distinguish between real and generated data. Through an iterative process of training and feedback, GANs can produce increasingly realistic and high-quality content.
  • Generative AI has shown significant advancements in recent years and has been used in a wide range of applications, including art and design, content creation, data augmentation, and even in the development of realistic deepfake videos. However, it's important to note that generative AI also raises ethical concerns, such as the potential for misuse, the creation of misleading content, and the need for responsible and ethical deployment.

Examples of Generative AI:

  • OpenAI's Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)
  • DeepArt or Deepfakes

How Generative AI could be game changer in MOOCs?

  • It help students easily locate the suitable courses without any attempt to explore entire MOOC.
  • AI can give challenges and task to students on daily basis without any repetition in language or pattern.
  • AI coaching, counselling and virtual assistance. AI techniques like natural language processing (NLP) enable chatbots and virtual assistants to interact with students, answer their questions, and provide support.
  • AI can assist in content creation and curation for online courses.
  • AI can help in making learning more interesting, thereby retaining high enrolment ratios. 
  • AI can analyze student data, such as performance, learning styles, and preferences, to create personalized learning experiences. Adaptive learning platforms can use AI algorithms to tailor educational content and resources to each student's individual needs.
  • AI can help in breaking down the language barrier in real-time. 

National Exit Test

Context: Recently Union Health Ministry announced that the National Exit Test (NExT) will be held in 2024.

About National Exit Test

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  • NExt will replace the final-year MBBS examination and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET-PG), acting as the test for registration for doctors and admission to medical postgraduate courses.
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, was likely to conduct the exam, which will test the clinical and practical learning of the students.

Medical education in India

  • The National Medical Commission (NMC) has been constituted by an act of Parliament known as the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 to regulate medical education in India.

The objective of NMC includes to:

  • Improve access to quality and affordable medical education,
  • Ensure the availability of adequate and high-quality medical professionals in all parts of the country;
  • Promote equitable and universal healthcare that encourages community health perspective and makes services of medical professionals access to all the citizens;
  • Encourages medical professionals to adopt the latest medical research in their work and to contribute to research;
  • Objectively assess medical institutions  periodically in a transparent manner;
  • Maintain a medical register for India;
  • Enforce high ethical standards in all aspects of medical services;
  • Have an effective grievance redressal mechanism.

The functions of NMC include to:

  •  lay down policies for maintaining high quality and high standards in medical education and make necessary regulations on this behalf;
  • lay down policies for regulating medical institutions, medical researchers and medical professionals and make necessary regulations on this behalf;
  • assess the requirements in healthcare, including human resources for health and healthcare infrastructure and develop a road map for meeting such requirements;
  • promote, co-ordinate and frame guidelines and lay down policies by making necessary regulations for the proper functioning of the Commission, the Autonomous Boards and the State Medical Councils;
  • ensure coordination among the Autonomous Boards;
  • take such measures, as may be necessary, to ensure compliance by the State Medical Councils of the guidelines framed and regulations made under this Act for their effective functioning under this Act;
  • exercise appellate jurisdiction with respect to the decisions of the Autonomous Boards;
  • lay down policies and codes to ensure observance of professional ethics in the medical profession and to promote ethical conduct during the provision of care by medical practitioners;
  • frame guidelines for the determination of fees and all other charges in respect of fifty per cent. of seats in private medical institutions and deemed to be universities that are governed under the provisions of this Act;
  • exercise such other powers and perform such other functions as may be prescribed.

Members of NMC

The Commission shall consist of the following persons to be appointed by the Central Government, namely:—

  •  a Chairperson;
  • ten ex officio Members; and
  • twenty-two part-time Members.

Structure of NMC

  • Each Board referred to in the sub-section shall be an autonomous body that shall carry  out its functions under this  Act subject to the regulations made by the Commission.
  • Each Autonomous Board shall consist of a President, two whole-time Members, and two part-time Members.

National Examination

  • There shall be a  uniform  National  Eligibility-cum-Entrance  Test for admission to the undergraduate and postgraduate super-speciality medical education in all medical institutions which are governed by the provisions of the NMC Act 2019.
  • The  Commission  shall specify by regulations the manner of conducting common counselling by the designated authority for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate super-speciality seats in all the medical institutions. 
  •  A typical final year undergraduate medical examination, known as the National Exit Test shall be held for granting a licence to practice medicine as a medical practitioner and for enrolment in the State Register or the National Register.
  • Any person with a foreign medical qualification shall have to qualify National Exit Test for the purpose of obtaining a licence to practice medicine as a medical practitioner and for enrolment in the State Register or the National Register.
  • The National Exit Test shall be the basis for admission to the postgraduate broad-speciality medical education in medical institutions.

National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)

Context: The 2024 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) results were announced recently by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This annual ranking, based on a comprehensive evaluation of various educational institutions across India, highlights the best performers in multiple categories. The rankings are crucial as they influence the perception of institutions, guide students in making informed decisions, and drive institutional improvements.

Key Facts from article- As per National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings-2024.

iit madras- National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)

Top Institutes in Engineering

1. IIT Madras

2. IIT Delhi

3. IIT Bombay

Universities Rankings

Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru) ranked as the best university in the country followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi and Jamia Millia Islamia.

Top  Overall Institutes

1. IIT Madras

2. IISc Bengaluru

3. IIT Bombay

Top Management

1. IIM Ahmedabad

2. IIM Bangalore

3. IIM Kozhikode

Top  Medical College- AIIMS Delhi leads in the medical category.

Top Colleges- Delhi University's Hindu College ranked as the best college in the country followed by Miranda House College and St. Stephen's College.

State Universities Ranking

1. Anna University, Chennai

2. Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Law Institutes

1. National Law School of India University, Bengaluru

2. National Law University, Delhi

Architecture and Planning

1. IIT Roorkee

2. IIT Kharagpur

Open universities

1. IGNOU

2. Netaji Subhash Open University, Kolkata

Innovation category

1. IIT Bombay

2. IIT Madras

Agriculture and allied sectors

1. Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

2. ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal

Top  research institutes

1. IISc, Bengaluru

2. IIT Madras

Top dental college

1. Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Science, Chennai

Best skill university

1. Symbiosis Skill and Professional University, Pune

Top-ranked institution for pharmacy

1. Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

New Categories

The 2024 rankings, introduced three new categories: open universities, skill universities, and State public universities, bringing the total to 16 categories. The Ministry of Education is considering adding "sustainability" as a ranking criterion in the future and is exploring the inclusion of institutions from neighboring countries to make the rankings more comprehensive

Increased Participation and Future Directions

The 2024 NIRF rankings saw participation from 6,517 institutions, a significant increase in engagement.

About NIRF

  • This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country since 2016.
  • The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by Ministry of Education (MoE), to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.
  • The parameters broadly cover

Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR)

  • Student Strength including Doctoral Students (SS)
  • Faculty-student ratio with emphasis on permanent faculty (FSR)
  • The combined metric for Faculty with PhD (or equivalent) and Experience (FQE)
  • Financial Resources and their Utilisation (FRU)Research and Professional Practices

Research and Professional Practice (RP)

  • The combined metric for Publications (PU)
  • The combined metric for Quality of Publications (QP)
  • IPR and Patents: Published and Granted (IPR)
  • The Footprint of Projects and Professional Practice (FPPP)

Graduation Outcomes (GO)

  • Metric for University Examinations (GUE)
  • Metric for Number of Ph.D. Students Graduated (GPHD)

Outreach and Inclusivity (OI)

  • Percentage of Students from Other States/Countries (Region Diversity RD)
  • Percentage of Women (Women Diversity WD)
  • Economically and Socially Challenged Students (ESCS)
  • Facilities for Physically Challenged Students (PCS)
  • Perception (PR) Ranking

Peer Perception

Academic Peers and Employers (PR)

NIRF ranks different educational institutes in the following  16 categories

  1. Engineering
  2. Management
  3. Pharmacy
  4. Law
  5. Medical
  6. Dental
  7. Architecture and planning
  8. Agriculture and allied sectors
  9. Collages
  10. University
  11. Research
  12. Innovation
  13. Overall
  14. open universities
  15. skill universities
  16. State public universities

New guidelines for deemed universities

Context: Recently, the UGC has released new guidelines for deemed universities.

Eligibility Criteria for an Institution to be Declared as Institution Deemed to Be University

image 30
  •  A multi-disciplinary Institution (minimum five Departments either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) OR a Cluster of Institutions offering five (UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) programmes located in the same city/town.
  • The Institution(s) shall have valid accreditation by NAAC grade with at least 3.01 CGPA for three consecutive cycles provided that the application for accreditation/re-accreditation was submitted by the Institution within the time frame from the previous cycle.

                                                     OR

  • In the case of the technical institution(s), two-thirds of eligible technical programmes were accredited by the NBA for three consecutive cycles provided that the Institution submitted the application for accreditation/re-accreditation within the time frame from the previous cycle.

                                                        OR

  • Should figure among the top 50 (fifty) ranking of NIRF in any specific category for consecutive three years.

        OR

  •  Among the top 100 (hundred) of the overall NIRF ranking for three consecutive years.
  • Shall possess such academic and physical infrastructure as may be prescribed by the Commission and/or the relevant statutory body.
  •  Approval of the relevant statutory body for the professional courses which are currently being run.
  • The teacher-student ratio of 1:20 with a minimum combined faculty strength of not less than 100 (one hundred) teachers and a minimum combined student strength of 2000 (two thousand) on rolls under the regular classroom mode, of which not less than one-third being PG/research students OR as per the norms of the relevant statutory body.
  • Shall have an administrative area, library, lecture halls, labs, hostels, health care, common facilities and recreational facilities.

Corpus Fund: In the case of Institutions not funded by the Government, a Corpus Fund of Rs. 25 Crore or as decided by the Commission from time to time.

Off-Campus Centre(s): Institutions Deemed to be Universities with minimum ‘A’ grade & above or ranked from 1-100 in the "Universities" category of the current NIRF ranking are eligible to set up new Off-Campus Centre

Institutions declared as Deemed to be Universities under ‘Distinct Category’ can apply for off-campus (es) within 5 years of their declaration. After five years, they have to fulfil the criteria stipulated earlier.

Monitoring: The Commission shall monitor the performance and academic outcomes of Deemed to be Universities having valid accreditation by NAAC with less than an ‘A’ grade or ranked more than 100 in the current NIRF ranking (Universities category) not later than every five years, on the basis of a report submitted annually by the Deemed to be Universities

Governance structure: The highest governing body of the Institution Deemed to be a University shall be the Executive Council to be headed by the Vice Chancellor, consisting of not less than 9 and not more than 15 members.

Tenure of the members of the Executive Council: All the members of the Executive Council, other than the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, shall hold office for a term of three years. In the case of Deans, the term will be for three years or until they hold the office of Dean, whichever is earlier.

AISHE report and low Muslim participation in higher education

Context: The Ministry of Education, Government of India has released All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-2021. The Ministry has been conducting All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2011, covering all higher educational institutions located in Indian Territory and imparting higher education in the country. The survey collects detailed information on different parameters such as student enrollment, teacher’s data, infrastructural information, financial information etc.

Key findings of AISHE 2020-21:

  • The total enrollment in higher education has increased to nearly 4.14 crore in 2020-21 from 3.85 crore in 2019-20.  Since 2014-15, there has been an increase of around 72 Lakh in the enrolment (21%).
  • Higher education's Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) has also surpassed 27.3%. The GER measures the proportion of adults between the ages of 18 and 23 who are enrolled in college. It was determined using data from the 2011 Census.
  • The Female enrolment has increased to 2.01 crore from 1.88 crore in 2019-20.  There has been an increase of around 44 Lakh (28%) since 2014-15.
  • Female GER has overtaken Male GER since 2017-18. Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER to male GER, has increased from 1 in 2017-18 to 1.05 in 2020-21.
  • There has been a noticeable increase in the enrolment of students from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in higher education institutions between 2014–15 and 2020–21. ST students have seen the largest growth, with a nearly 47% increase.

Government universities constitute contribute 73.1% of total enrolment of students. Whereas, private universities account for only 26.3% of the total enrolment.

Declining representation of Muslim minority groups in Higher education:

One contrasting trend observed in the recent AISHE report is the declining representation of Muslims in higher education.  Enrollment of Muslim students dropped by 8 per cent from 2019-20 – that is, by 1,79,147 students. This level of absolute decline has never happened in the recent past for any group. 

Possible reasons:

  • Bias in labour markets: As per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report, unemployment rate of Muslims is comparably lower than other religious groups. This data is partly a reflection of some discrimination in the job market. 
  • Barriers to female education: Economic and social backwardness of the minority community and other cultural barriers inhibited participation of Muslim women in higher education. 
  • Violence: Increased violence against Muslims has restricted their spatial mobility and has forced them to withdraw into their shells, a development evident from the ongoing process of ghettoization in almost all Indian cities. 

This increased marginalisation of Muslims in higher education and public employment, which was also reflected in Sachar committee and Ranganath Mishra reports, calls for need to extend affirmative action policies to Muslims.

National Credit Framework

Context: The Government developed National Credit Framework (NCrF) to integrate learning on all dimensions i.e., academics, vocational skills and experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired. The National Credit Framework (NCrF) provides for Assignment, Accumulation, Storage, Transfer & Redemption of Credits through Academic Bank of Credits.

Proposed benefits for various stakeholders are as follows:

  1. Students: NCrF will ensure Flexibility in the duration of study/ courses through provisions of multiple entries and exit/work options as well as pave the path for creditisation of all learning hours, including academic, vocational and experiential learning. It will also give the provision for lifelong learning – any time anywhere learning: It will also help students by:
  • Establishing multidisciplinary and holistic education with flexible curricula
  • Removing the hard distinction between the education stream and making study choices respectful, allowing for more than one award in the same period
  • Removing the distinction between arts, science, social sciences, commerce, etc
  • Giving student credits for every academic/ skill/ experience
  • Enhancing the scope of core learning to include foundational and cognitive both

2. Institutions: NCrF will bring about a unification of higher education institutions to promote multidisciplinary education, creating a diverse and rich students knowledge base. It will also help in:

  • Promoting stronger collaboration between institutions
  • Making credit mechanism simpler and uniform
  • Increasing focus on research and innovation
  • Promoting digital learning, blended learning, and open distance learning
  • Leveraging the institutional infrastructure

3. Government: NCrF is expected to assist the government to increase the enrolment of students, helping to fulfil the national vision of complementing the demographic dividend and transforming India into the Skill Capital of the World. It will also:

  • Making vocational education and training/ skilling aspirational
  • Highly educated and trained workforce for Aatmnirbhar Bharat

4. Industry: NCrF will allow students to attain NSQF-approved foundational skills developed by industry and be more employable. The provision of micro-credentials will allow integration of quick educational upgradation/ up-skilling It will also help in:

  • Re-Skilling and up-skilling of existing employees/ engineers
  • Making students more employable by enabling a more holistic design of the study
  • Creating a multi/ cross-sectoral skilled pool of employable youth

Need for Academic Bank of Credit scheme:

India has a long tradition of holistic and multidisciplinary learning, from universities such as Takshashila and Nalanda, to the extensive literatures of India combining subjects across fields. Integrating the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) improves learning outcomes, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, social awareness and responsibility among the students. National Education policy (2020) also suggested the need for Holistic and multi-disciplinary education to lead India into 21st century and 4th Industrial revolution.  

                            However, not every Higher education institution in India can provide such a multidisciplinary education due to shortage of faculty, limited financial resources and lack of institutional autonomy in setting curriculum.

To overcome these challenges, National education policy suggested Academic Bank of credits (ABC) scheme. UGC has recently notified the scheme. 

Academic Bank of credit scheme:

  • Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) is a virtual/digital storehouse that contains the information of the credits earned by individual students throughout their academic journey. 
  • Academic Bank of Credits shall provide to every student the facility to open unique or individual Academic Bank Account in digital form. When a student pursues any course and clears exams, credits will be automatically awarded to them. Institutions need to fill out the details and upload the deposits in the students’ Academic Credit Bank’s account on the digital portal.
  • ABC will allow students of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses to exit the course and enter within a stipulated period. The student can earn up to 50 per cent credits from outside the college/university where she/he is enrolled for the degree/diploma programme.

Advantages:

  • Option to exit and enter: If any student needs to get back to education after a break or has to relocate to another city, they can easily ‘carry’ forward their completed credits.
  • Wider choice to students: 
  • As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree.
  • Students also can join online courses offered by MOOCs like SWAYAM or NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning) and add these credits to my ABC.
  • Reduces the burden on institutions: It reduces the burden on any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses and increases the competition among institutes.

Problems: 

  • Grade inflation: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments. one of the metrics for success of these courses is student performance in the final assessment. Thus, it would be in the interest of course coordinators to award scores liberally and paint a rosy picture.
  • Dilution of Quality of degrees:  An average student from premier institute like IIT/IISER may find it tempting to opt out of a challenging course in my institute and use the ABC scheme to replace it with an equivalent course from another
    • university where it would be far easier to obtain good grades.
  • Contraction of teaching posts in small institutes: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail up to 50% of credits from other institutes. students avail these credits outside the parent college, they need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses. As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated on the basis of student enrolment numbers, when a large fraction of students do not enrol for the courses offered by them it might result in co traction of teaching posts in those institutes. 

As a whole, this scheme has all the right and laudable intentions and would probably work well in a society with a more equitable distribution of resources. But in India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes. The UGC must rethink expeditiously how to implement this scheme.

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