GUWAHATI, Nov 30 - The Government of India is planning to check brain drain of students who go abroad for higher studies and stay back in foreign countries by either helping top universities of the world to open campuses in India or by collaborating with such universities. This was disclosed by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. He also said that the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 would give stress on vocational education.
In an interview with The Assam Tribune, the minister said India has highly favourable young demographics with 35 per cent of its population between 15 and 29 years of age. �The demographics can easily help in making India a five trillion dollar economy. To captivate this young demography so that they work for the development of the global world while staying in India, the has NEP recommended research and teaching collaborations, and faculty and student exchanges with top foreign institutions for which mutually beneficial MoUs will be signed,� he said.
Pokhriyal said the selected universities � among the top 100 in the world � will be helped to open campuses in India. �For this, a legislative framework will be put in place specifying the norms. A dynamic �light but tight� regulatory framework will ensure integrity, transparency, and resource efficiency of the educational system through audit and public disclosure while encouraging innovation and out-of-the-box ideas through autonomy, good governance, and empowerment,� he added.
He expressed the view that these initiatives would be useful for developing an Atmanirbhar Bharat which would be nurtured with a focus on both �Study in India� and �Stay in India� schemes. �Through NEP we will be able to rejuvenate the higher education system to meet the needs of students and the global world, while promoting internationalisation at home,� he said.
Asked how the government plans to promote vocational education, the minister said the NEP envisages that by 2025, at least 50 per cent of learners through the school and higher education system would have exposure to vocational education. The NCERT will design a fun course on vocational crafts for all learners to take during grades 6-8, he added.
He said the schools would be encouraged to hire local eminent persons or experts as �master instructors� in various subjects, such as traditional local arts, vocational crafts, entrepreneurship, agriculture, or any other subject where local expertise exists, to benefit students and help preserve and promote local knowledge and professions.
A technology-based comprehensive teacher-requirement forecasting exercise will be conducted by each state to assess subject-wise teacher vacancies over the next two decades and accordingly, all vacancies will be filled with qualified teachers, including local teachers, with suitable incentives for career management and progression, he said, adding, teacher education programmes and offerings will also align with the vacancies projected.
On the issue of concerns over the quality of examinations held by private universities, Pokhriyal said that with the coming of NEP, higher education institutions would move away from high-stakes examinations towards more continuous and comprehensive evaluation. �Mechanism will be developed so that institutions and faculty will have the autonomy to innovate on matters of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment within a broad framework of higher education qualifications that ensures consistency across institutions and programmes,� he added.
The minister said the CBCS (choice based credit system) would be revised for instilling innovation and flexibility. Educational institutions will move to a criterion-based grading system that assesses student achievement based on the learning goals for each programme, making the system fairer and outcomes more comparable, he said.
