JNU VC welcomes academic bank of credit scheme announced by PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar welcomed the academic bank of credit scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) criticised the policy, saying that it will lead to dilution of degrees. Kumar said that as a "top educational institute in India", the university "will strive to implement and take advantage of NEP 2020 in transforming education".

"Several initiatives were announced today by the prime minister before his address on "Transformative Reforms under NEP" on the occasion of completion of 1 year of NEP 2020. These are harbingers of transforming education in India," he said.

"Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) scheme in higher education will help students to carve out their own learning path to attain academic qualifications as per their time choices and mobility across disciplines and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). It will not only help the students but also the working adults who would like to enhance their skills by accessing high quality education available in different HEIs," he added.

He added that the multi-exit and multi-entry option will help those students who have to take a break from their education for either financial or other reasons. While stating that digital education is going to be the norm in Indian education sector, he said that the launch of the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) will help the educational institutions in teaching, learning, planning, administration and governance to make the education open, inclusive and accessible.

"NEP 2020 in the coming years will provide academic flexibility, effective learning and will promote innovation and creativity," he added. In a tweet, Delhi University said, "University of Delhi participated in "Celebrating One Year of National Education Policy 2020". DU welcomes launch of Academic programs in Higher Education Institutions."

The DUTA said that the ABC regulations intend to give impetus to blended learning mode, allowing students to earn credits from various HEIs registered under this scheme and through SWAYAM, an online repository of courses. "As more and more students wish to join mainstream education in regular mode, the government is finding refuge in changing the character of regular mode by forcing inclusion of online teaching components in the regular stream.

Through this, the NEP 2020 intends to reduce universities to degree distributing shops by maximising enrolment, with reduced expenditure on teaching and non-teaching staff and with examinations and admissions outsourced to agencies," the teachers' body said. The new National Education Policy (NEP) is one of the major factors in the grand exercise of nation-building and assures the youth that the country supports their aspirations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

Addressing a programme on the completion of one year of the NEP, the prime minister said what new heights "we will achieve in the future will depend on what kind of education we are giving to our youth at present". The prime minister also launched various schemes on the occasion, including flexible entry and exit scheme for colleges, an academic bank of credit (ABC) in tertiary education, a competency-based assessment system for the school sector and a framework for internationalisation of Indian education.

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