Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University has deferred implementation of the National Education Policy from the academic session 2023-24, at least for the under-graduation level. The exception to this is the autonomous colleges.
Although the university still believes that the NEP can be implemented at the post-graduation level, the issue is still to be finalised. A meeting with deans of various faculties, noted academicians and related staff with the Vice-Chancellor is being convened on June 16 to decide on the issue. The University has already granted autonomy to its post-graduate teaching departments. The decision to grant autonomy to these departments, about 38 in number, is also debatable.
A notification to defer the implementation of NEP was issued by the university on Tuesday evening.
It is argued by the university that the staff of the university, affiliated colleges, and some students organisations raised several questions about the enforcement of NEP from this academic session. The admission process for the academic session 2023-24 is beginning on Thursday (June 15). The students, teachers, and principals of colleges affiliated to the university are not very clear about the scheme to be implemented. The students to be admitted should be provided with correct information about the duration of the degree course, curriculum, options available for subjects to be selected and most importantly their future by selecting a particular set of subjects.
The other issues are related to the availability of faculty for the selected subjects. The issue becomes more critical in colleges in rural areas. Hiring faculty for any subjects opted for by only one or two students would be difficult for any college. In rural areas, the problem would become more severe.
Maharashtra Government has already directed all the universities to implement the NEP from the ensuing academic session. The office of the Chancellor is flooded with letters informing about difficulties in the implementation of NEP.
Mumbai and Pune Universities are up in hands against the implementation of NEP. RTMNU was willing to become the first to implement NEP in Maharashtra. However, the difficulties are being placed before the Vice-Chancellor here, to which he agreed and deferred the implementation.