With the deadline for submitting feedback to the University Grants Commission’s Draft National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) ending on Monday, academic stakeholders in Tamil Nadu are clueless about the DMK government’s position on the crucial policy document. The State has not publicly pronounced its stand on the draft formulated as per the mandate of the National Education Policy (NEP). The draft has proposed overhauling changes to the higher education structure, distinctly deviating from the ‘10 +2 + 3’ pattern of education.
Curiously, in Tamil Nadu, where education policies, particularly those evolved nationally, have triggered proactive political participation, no major regional party has reacted publicly to the draft.
The draft has proposed “entry requirements” for admission to undergraduate degree courses. While the basic requirement is a Grade 12 or equivalent certificate, it says: “Admission to the first year of the undergraduate programme will be open to those who have met the ‘ entrance requirements’ (emphasis added), including specified levels of attainment, in the programme admission regulations.” In the absence of a clear definition, academics fear that an entrance test would be mandatory for all college admissions.
The draft also advocates “entrance requirements” for undergraduate college students to progress to the next year of study. Academics apprehend this as a “grey area” where the inference could be that a student not meeting the requirement would have to exit the higher education system with a certificate (at the end of the first year), diploma (at the end of the second year) or degree (at the end of the third year), as proposed in the draft policy. At present, in Tamil Nadu, college students move on to the next year of study whether or not they pass all the papers in the semester examinations. Students are awarded graduation certificates upon clearing all the papers within a specified time frame.
The draft also proposes a four-year Bachelor’s (Honours) degree as the “preferred option”, with a choice of graduating in the third year. For qualifying for the fourth year, a student must have a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average of 7.5. The State Platform for Common School System (Tamil Nadu) has asked what the minimum qualification would be for service examinations, such as the one conducted by the Union Public Service Commission — a three or a four-year degree. “Given the socio-educational backwardness of the majority of the people in India, if a four-year degree course becomes the minimum qualification for a majority of the higher posts in the government or public sector, would it not amount to the exclusion of the majority, who will find it difficult to complete four years,” asks its general secretary P.B. Prince Gajendra Babu.
The ruling DMK’s silence on the subject is in contrast to its vocal opposition to the NEP. In 2010, even when the party shared power at the Centre, it had strongly opposed the proposal for a National Commission for Higher Education and Research calling it an “infringement” on the State’s rights. The same year, then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi wrote to the Prime Minister and Union Health Minister that the State could not accept the proposal for a medical college entrance test.
Given Tamil Nadu’s emotive protests against entrance examinations, strict implementation of “entrance requirements” in arts and science colleges, as proposed in the Draft NHEQF, could attract opposition when the policy is rolled out. Academics say going by Tamil Nadu’s NEET experience, it would be appropriate for the government to spell out its stand and engage in a meaningful dialogue with stakeholders now rather than at the implementation stage.
sureshkumar.d@thehindu.co.in
