The e-PG Pathshala proposal of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has not received much response from the six universities in Odisha. The UGC had earlier sought help from State and Central universities to identify eminent faculty members to develop e-content in 77 subjects at the post-graduate level. Accordingly, UGC Chairman Ved Prakash wrote letters last month to the vice-chancellors and academia, including those in Odisha, urging them to identify talented faculty and suggest their names for preparing the e-content.
The e-content will comprise lectures, laboratory sessions and tutorials followed by homework, quizzes, term papers and examinations and self-assessment questions for the benefit of the learners.
Named e-PG Pathshala, the UGC has proposed to create high quality material for different subjects across all disciplines under this initiative. The material developed will be made available for both teachers and students in the form of open online courses through a learning management system (LMS). The project is part of the Centrally-sponsored scheme of the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD).
“The e-content development and associated web-based learning described here do not seek to replace traditional teaching and learning, but are expected to supplement them. The inclusion of e-content in learning is now inevitable, and UGC initiative is designed to meet the new challenges,” stated a letter from UGC chairman.
However, in Odisha, while a majority of the universities have expressed their inability in dedicating their faculty members for the purpose citing teacher shortage, some stated that they have not received any letter from UGC in this regard. Official sources said existing faculty are already overburdened with additional works due to teachers’ shortage. “Our departments are running with just two or three teachers. We are taking regular classes along with helping students with their research papers and also attending to university’s paper works. Under these circumstances, dedicating time to prepare learning materials for UGC is difficult,” said a teacher of Utkal University. Similar views were expressed by teachers of Sambalpur and Berhampur universities.
On the other hand, Registrar of Central University at Koraput, S K Mishra, said the varsity has not received any letter from the UGC yet. “It is a very good proposal and we will take steps in this regard only after receiving the letter,” he added.