Minister, higher edu council vice-chairman engage in public spat over curriculum revamp

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government and the higher education council under it apparently have divergent views on restructuring the degree courses in the state. The differences emerged during a recent workshop organised to discuss the revision of curriculum for degree courses when the Higher Education Minister R Bindu openly opposed the suggestions of the council’s vice-chairman Dr Rajan Gurukkal. Incidentally, the chairperson of the Kerala State Higher Education Council is the Minister.

The dispute began following the speech by Gurukkal, who said that the council has been engaged in efforts to implement the proposals of the National Education Policy 2020 in Kerala during the last two years. “The Shyam B Menon report is the ‘Kerala model’ of the National Education Policy,” he said.

Gurukkal also explained the details of some decisions taken in this regard at a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Minister’s opposition

When her turn came to deliver the inaugural address at the workshop, Minister Bindu launched a severe attack on Gurukkal’s suggestions. “Kerala cannot shy away from implementing the plan for four-year degree courses. We don’t want to blindly follow the National Education Policy,” she said.

“Kerala’s education programme should not be a copy of the Central policy. We need a parallel document,” said Bindu.

The Minister also said that the state government is firm in its stand that Kerala should be transformed into a neo-knowledge society. We have no problem if a delay occurs in this effort, she added.

“In order to achieve this goal, comprehensive improvements have to be implemented in the higher education sector. Moreover, all stakeholders in the sector should be prepared to change themselves,” said Bindu.

The dispute between the Minister and the higher education council vice-chairman assumes significance as the CPM, the main constituent of the LDF and the front have expressed concerns over the reported moves to implement the recommendation of the National Education Policy in a hasty manner in Kerala.

Four-year degree courses

Meanwhile, the workshop organized by the higher education council held discussions on preparing a curriculum for the proposed four-year degree courses and foundation courses.

After the state government decided to start four-year degree courses – the current duration of these courses is three years – it had appointed a model curriculum committee in January this year. The latest workshop, held at IMG (Institute of Management in Government) in Thiruvananthapuram, discussed the draft guidelines prepared by the committee.

Suggestions raised during the discussions at the workshop were heard by the committee, which will soon submit a revised curriculum for the consideration of various universities in the state.

Member secretary of the higher education council Dr Rajan Varghese, curriculum committee chairman Prof Suresh Das, Principal Secretary for Higher Education Ishita Roy and Dr V Shafeeq also spoke at the event.