Noted academicians like Romila Thapar, Farida Khan and Janaki Nair today accused the HRD ministry of "recklessly" pushing the reforms agenda on central universities, claiming that it will have a serious impact on the institutes which would reduce them into "teaching shops".
Highlighting anomalies in some of the proposed reform measures like Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), common entrance test and syllabus and a central ranking system, they also claimed that the decisions were being imposed arbitrarily, undermining the autonomous status enjoyed by the central varsities.
"The spate of circulars sent by University Grants Commission (UGC) quoting a period of month for working on the 'major reforms' is certainly not a sensible approach to be adopted for higher education by any country. The way these reforms are being pushed entire higher education sector is at risk," Romila Thapar, eminent historian and Emerita professor Jawaharlal Nehru University, told reporters here.
The academicians came together to oppose the ministry initiated reforms and released a 'position paper' which they said was their response to the many policy statements and directives issued by the HRD Ministry and the UGC recently.
"The standardisation and centralisation of education system would be a major casualty which will reduce universities and colleges into teaching shops and coaching centres. How sensible it is to talk of major reforms in the education sector and exclude the professionals, the teachers from the dialogue?" Thapar said.
Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia University's School of Education, Farida Khan said, "Proposed reforms stress standardisation including a common syllabus for all central universities, a common entrance test, faculty and student mobility and credit transfers".
"The jurisdictions offered for these sweeping changes are enhanced employability, skill development and seamless nationwide mobility for students. The reforms fail to differentiate between curricula and syllabi.
"In India, student mobility is blocked not by varied syllabi but by scarcity of quality institutions, which is the key issue to be resolved. Instead of standardised syllabi and credit systems, we propose intensive collaborations among universities that can enable wider access to institutions via Inter University centres, short term exchange programmes for research students and related schemes," she added.
