West Bengal on May 31 finally announced that colleges run and aided by the State Government would implement the National Education Policy starting from academic year 2023-2024, a decision that has drawn mixed reaction from teachers.
While one set of teachers questioned the delay in the announcement, the other said it was better late than never. But, what appears to trouble most is the State Government’s simultaneous announcement that admissions would not be centralised — as was the plan from this year — and that colleges would be responsible for it individually.
“After consulting various stakeholders and keeping the future of students in mind, it has been decided by the competent authority in the State Government that the four-year undergraduate level programme will be introduced in all State Government and State Government-aided/ sponsored higher education institutions from the academic session 2023-2024,” a State Government release said.
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“They shall be awarded degrees in accordance with the UGC National Curriculum and Credit Framework [NCCF] for UG-level programmes. This year, the admission process in UG-level courses will be conducted through standalone online admission portals at the institutional level, as was done during the last academic session,” it said.
It said the NCCF for the four-year UG courses would be implemented by the institutions through optimum utilisation of existing resources or self-mobilisation of additional resources, pending receipt of additional financial assistance.
“Colleges and university teachers are not prepared. There is not much time to even prepare the syllabus. Only one month back, the State Government had just asked for opinions, and now after Class 12 results, they are asking us to introduce NEP. It’s a whimsical move. All the burden and responsibilities will come onto the teachers. At the end of the day, teachers are answerable to the greater community and the students. The State Government should have decided much earlier to introduce NEP,” said Mrinmoy Pramanick, a teacher in a university in Kolkata.
‘Lackadaisical attitude’
Another professor, who did not wish to be named, said that while the State Government had been “lackadaisical”, considering it should have begun preparations long before the formal introduction [of NEP], it was better late than never.
“But what’s shocking is the sudden decision to revert to the old system of individual colleges conducting admissions rather than the proposed centralised system. I don’t think any college has its online admission portal ready. These things take time; one has to negotiate with the vendor, set up payment gateways etc. Only this morning we were asked to send data for the centralised admission portal— and now this!” the professor said.
“It’s a whimsical move”Mrinmoy PramanickLecturer, Kolkata University
