Offer credits for sports, ECA; develop framework: Dharmendra Pradhan to educational institutes

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan recommended offering credits for sports and extracurricular activities and asked educational institutions to develop a framework. The minister was speaking at the stakeholders consultation on draft National Credit Framework (NCrF) of the north-zone at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

Pradhan said that under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, it has been recommended to bring uniformity and implement the NCrF which is a global model. While several countries have adopted the credit framework, it is not a new thing in our country, he said. He noted that IITs have their own level of the framework and several institutions have their own methodology and scoring for the credit framework.

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The education minister went on to say that from primary to secondary education, there's 100 percent enrolment, however, 25 percent students drop out when it comes to higher secondary education due to various reasons such as financial issues, early child marriage, migration, among others. Boys and girls from rural areas, deprived communities, and backward classes tend to drop out more in comparison to urban areas. The drop out rate increases at higher education, he said.

The gross enrolment ratio (GER) of higher education level is 27 percent till date. According to a survey done by the education ministry, of the 27 percent students applying for higher education, 40 percent are opting for engineering, medical, science, commerce and other streams with applied aspects while 60 percent are in humanities which questions their employability, the minister said.

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"In our education system, we have linked practice at some point," he said. Not everyone needs to join an IIT or study engineering, there should be basic technical skilling among students and youth, he added.

The education minister said that the education system in India gives admission through sports and extra-curriculur activities (ECA) but there’s no provision for credits for these subjects and recommended giving credits and asked institutions to develop a framework.