The Week In Education: CLAT 2020 on hold, DU OBE cleared, NEP analysed

NEW DELHI: The past week saw yet another lawsuit being filed over exams, this time against the entrance tests for engineering and medicine. The students of Delhi University, however, lost their battle against the online open book exams as the Delhi High Court upheld DU’s decision to hold them.

Most discussion on the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 followed with the ministry holding a major conclave to discuss and explain it.

Central and state universities issued new schedules and plans for exams and academic sessions.

In its weekly wrap of education news, Careers360 covers the most important announcements, decisions and general developments most relevant to educational institutions, teachers and students. Listed below are the biggest decisions and developments from the past week.

COVID-19 and Education

The UN Secretary General’s policy brief on education said that the COVID-19 pandemic has created “the largest disruption of education in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion students in all countries and continents. The brief also predicted that “an additional 23.8 million children and youth” could drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic’s economic impact alone.

Last month, over 1 billion students were affected by #COVID19 school closures.

Even before the pandemic, the world was facing a learning crisis.

We must take bold steps now, to create inclusive, resilient, quality education systems fit for the future. https://t.co/fD4nwEkqUg pic.twitter.com/71ksZO2DHP

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 4, 2020

JEE 2020 and NEET 2020

The parents association which moved the Supreme Court against the University Grants Commission guidelines, has now filed a PIL demanding postponement of NEET and JEE Main 2020 to December.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, on August 3, announced that JEE Advanced 2020 will not be conducted in foreign centres for this session due to the restrictions on foreign travel and visa issuance. However, all eligible foreign candidates who have registered for JEE Advanced will be allowed to select their choice of exam cities from India during registration.

CLAT 2020

The Delhi High Court, on August 4, asked the Centre and the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLU) to reply to a law graduate's plea challenging the requirement of physically appearing at exam centre for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the NLU Consortium has indefinitely postponed the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2020, which was scheduled to be conducted on August 22.

Central and state universities

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced the opening of 11 new colleges in the state. 97 new colleges have been opened in the last five years in the state.

Jawaharlal Nehru University announced that it has received a fund of Rs 445 crore from the Higher Education Funding Agency, or HEFA, for the construction of academic buildings, hostels and research centres. The JNU teachers’ association had been against this route of funding.

Meanwhile, Delhi University, to make online learning an integral part of the education system through Delhi University Computer Centre (DUCC), has come up with an e-learning online educational programme - ‘OneDU’. University of Hyderabad, too, embraced online education announcing that the new session will begin from August 20 but online.

Tripura's Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath announced on Tuesday that admission to the state's 22 general degree colleges will be done online in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launch of Online Admission Portal in General Degree Colleges.

This system will make the admission procedure easy and transparent. pic.twitter.com/zargo0B8OE

— Ratan Lal Nath (@RatanLalNath1) August 4, 2020

Internship-embedded degree programmes

On Friday, the UGC issued guidelines for internships-embedded degree programmes that are aimed at increasing employability of graduates.

University exams

The Delhi High Court has given its nod to the Delhi University for conducting online Open Book Examination (OBE) for final-year undergraduate courses from August 10 with a slew of directions.

However, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) opted for assignment-based exams for all terminal and final-year students. BHU also said that students of intermediate semesters will be promoted to the next academic year, that is students will not be required to score the minimum 4.0 grade points as was required.

#BHU की कार्यकारी परिषद् ने शैक्षणिक सत्र 2019-20 के मध्यवर्ती/अंतिम सेमेस्टर के छात्रों के लिए सेशनल परीक्षा को असाइनमेंट आधारित बनाए जाने के विद्वत परिषद् के प्रस्ताव को मंज़ूरी दे दी है। इस के तहत शिक्षक ई-मेल/इलेक्ट्रॉनिक माध्यम से छात्र-छात्राओं को असाइनमेंट भेज सकते हैं। pic.twitter.com/B50cAHW2i1

— BHU Official (@bhupro) August 5, 2020

Anna University, Chennai has decided to conduct proctored online examination for the final-semester undergraduate and postgraduate students of the university departments and affiliated colleges by the end of August.

The deputy chief minister and higher education minister of Karnataka, Ashwathnarayan C N, on August 4, advised higher education institutions address problems students are facing with the final-year university exams.

NEP 2020 Discussion and criticism

The Tamil Nadu government, on August 3, rejected the Centre's three-language formula proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and said there will not be any deviation from the two-language policy being followed in the state.

The Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, has dropped the ‘Minister of Human Resource Development’ (MHRD) designation from his profile on social media, in line with the recent change in the name of HRD Ministry to Ministry of Education. The change of name was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29 along with the new National Education Policy 2020.

On Friday the ministry organised an online conclave on the NEP 2020 which was addressed by prime minister Narendra Modi. It was attended also by senior ministry officials and of the autonomous bodies that regulate various parts of the sector.

शिक्षा व्यवस्था में बदलाव, देश को अच्छे students, अच्छे प्रोफेशनल्स और उत्तम नागरिक देने का बहुत बड़ा माध्यम आप सभी Teachers ही हैं, प्रोफेसर्स ही हैं।

इसलिए नेशनल एजुकेशन पॉलिसी-राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति में dignity of teachers का भी विशेष ध्यान रखा गया है: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 7, 2020

Special stories

• A policy change has resulted in the annual fee of the MBBS programme in Uttarkhand’s government medical colleges rising from Rs 50,000 to Rs 4.26 lakh in one year: Uttarakhand MBBS students demand ‘reasonable’ fees after 800% hike

• Kerala’s Elambra had to wait three decades for a school when nearly every education and child rights body recommended one for it: Why it took Kerala’s Elambra 35 years to get a primary school

• Academics and former officials belief that the newly-approved National Education Policy 2020 shift the responsibility of educating children away from the government and to families: NEP 2020 treats education as ‘charity’, not right: Academics

Careers360 has been tracking the sweep of COVID-19 through India’s university and college campuses: COVID-19 And The Campus: Live Updates

Also read:

• The Week In Education: NEP 2020 and education reform project

• The Week in Education: JEE Main, NCERT syllabus, unsafe schools