BENGALURU: Days after the government rolled out the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020) to first-year undergraduate students on August 23, the higher education department is planning to roll out the model curriculum under the policy. Commissioner of Higher Education Pradeep P said the model curriculum will be made public in the first week of September.
Efforts are on to give shape to a curriculum that helps build a well-rounded personality, develop the creative potential of each individual, foundational and higher-order capabilities, and enhance skills and abilities. Thirty-five sub-committees have been formed, headed by vice-chancellors of various universities with subject experts among their members.
Pradeep said the new model curriculum will deviate just about 10-15 percent from the present one. He said skill and ability courses are being structured and will also be added to the curriculum. These will be courses like digital fluency, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, new technological developments and financial literacy.
Varsities set up helplines, help desks at colleges
Pradeep said awareness campaigns on NEP are being held for parents, students, lecturers and other stakeholders. A state-level helpline at the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) was launched on August 23, where lecturers sitting at the KSHEC office try to answer questions from students. Helplines have been started at each university, while colleges told to set up help desks, he said.
The Higher Education Academy in Dharwad will hold a one-day workshop for 10,000 government and aided college teachers. Every university has been asked to hold NEP workshops for teachers of all affiliated colleges and managements, besides students and parents.
Higher Education Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan attended workshops in Bengaluru and Mysuru, while he will take part in similar exercises at Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Mangaluru, Tumakuru and Davanagere.
Colleges too will hold weekly orientation programmes for prospective students and parents on NEP.
At each university and at the state level, YouTube live sessions by experts, phone-in programmes and talks should take place as planned, Pradeep said. On Thursday, a workshop was held for all government college principals and teachers.