COVER STORY
Rationalise
POLICIES
It’s never too late to make a new beginning or make learning fun for young adults, stresses Amita Chatterjee A change that I think the Indian higher education sector should witness in 2011 is an internal one— within the students’ minds. Education, especially higher education, is not about receiving grades. It’s about knowledge and discovery. It’s about fun. I believe, today’s youth don’t derive pleasure from the education that they receive. I hope that the teaching fraternity pro-actively work together to alter that mind set and make learning interesting.
semester, is 16 weeks at most. It is that long (or short) because teachers too need free time for library and laboratory work, and to travel to seminars and workshops. If a semester gets as long as an year, then a teacher will get little time for research, and the very purpose of introducing a semester system will be defeated. I do believe that the government is introducing well-meaning policies. But, at ground level, their implementation is not strong.
Free The Teaching Fraternity
Include The Not-so-privileged
Another change that I look forward to seeing in the immediate future, is the freedom of the teaching fraternity. By freedom I mean respite from the trappings of bureaucratic rules and regulations. An example will be the issue of compulsory attendance: the government and powersthat-be mandate that teachers spend five hours in their respective departments. That leaves the professor little time to conduct his or her research. Academics should be provided time to update their knowledge.
Another point that should be a priority for the government: inclusion of all sections of society in private and government-run institutions. We should open our doors to more participants from the underdeveloped sections of society. All things said and done, today in India, higher education is restricted to some segments of the society. To become a knowledge society and to raise India’s gross enrolment ratio (GER), intense focus should be on access to higher education.
Breaking The Silos Rationalisation Of Policies An important point on my wish list is the rationalisation of policies. Again, I can provide an example to explain. The University Grants Commission on one hand is trying to introduce the semester system. On the other, it has said that a semester should be year-long. Across the world, a
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Finally, I hope to witness a change of attitude in 2011—one that allows inter-disciplinary approach in higher education. Science and arts departments should not be created in isolation, because they don’t exist in isolation. Each of them feeds the other. My wish list, if fulfilled, may lead our education sector closer to the GER goal.
FACT FILE Name: Amita Chatterjee Designation: Vice Chancellor, Presidency University Trivia: Professor Chatterjee taught philosophy at Jadavpur University for 30 years
BY DRISHTI
Learning For Pleasure