Page 52 - EW November 2024

Cover Story

EW comment. EW strongly criticised the IIM Bill 2015 – the resources; research and professional practice; graduation
handiwork of HRD minister Smriti Irani. “Suddenly, there's outcomes; outreach and inclusivity. Since then, NIRF has
pervasive fear, not only within the academic councils and evolved into India’s largest government higher education
faculty but within all stakeholders — alumni, industry and institutions (HEIs) rating and ranking exercise. However
students — that the national and unlike the EducationWorld India Higher Education Rank-
global reputation of these B-schools ings (EWIHER) introduced in 2013, NIRF only ranks ‘par-
painstakingly developed over six ticipating” HEIs that submit prescribed data to the Union
decades, could be quickly destroyed education ministry.
by a bull- in-a-china-shop BJP-led EW comment. Responding by way of a news report filed
NDA government,” wrote your edi- from Delhi (EW May 2016), we commented that the NIRF
tors in a cover story titled ‘Hostile rankings — based entirely on self-submitted data — “are
takeover bid 2.0’ (EW August). In less than credible”. Subsequently in several critiques of the
subsequent issues, we continued to annual NIRF, your editors have highlighted voluntary par-
highlight the dangers of curtailing ticipation and self-submitted data design features of NIRF.
the autonomy of IIMs, resulting in “HEIs that participate in NIRF are obliged to submit doz-
the Bill being recast and HRD minister Irani being trans- ens of data sets in prescribed formats for evaluation of the
ferred to the textiles ministry a year later (2016). quality of their teaching, learning and research capabilities.
Skill India initiative launched. On the first ever World Youth The identity of assessors is not known and although par-
Skills Day (July 15), the BJP-led NDA government launched ticipating institutions are warned that the information sub-
the Skill India initiative. A National Skill Development Mis- mitted by them is subject to cross-checking and audit, the
sion and a new National Policy for Skill Development & assessment process permits a high degree of subjectivity.
Entrepreneurship (NPSDE) 2015 are the main highlights of Moreover, there’s a widespread belief that NIRF is heavily
the initiative. The national mission is a booster to achieve biased in favour of government HEIs,” wrote your editors.
NPSDE in mission mode. National Education Policy — Subramaniam Committee
EW comment. In an Education News report (EW August) Report. The report of a five-member committee chaired
EW welcomed the launch of Skill India mission as a “com- by former Union cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian,
prehensive, ambitious and overdue” initiative, but com- constituted in October 2015 by the Union HRD ministry to
mented: “the moot point is whether the under-developed draft a New Education Policy (NEP) 2016, was presented to
Indian economy has the capacity and resources to imple- HRD minister Smriti Irani on May 28. The report provoked
ment it”. a storm when Irani refused to heed Subramanian's demand
NB. Since then your editors have continuously high- to make the report available to the public for debate and dis-
lighted the neglect of vocational education and slow prog- cussion. Unfazed, Subramanian called a press conference
ress of Skill India mission (only 2 percent of India’s 560 in Delhi on June 23 and suo motu released the 217-page
million workforce has received formal skills training as report of the committee, which
per The Economic Survey 2023-24) and advocated “a clear has made 90 recommenda-
roadmap on how to meet the skilling challenge”. “To ad- tions for incorporation into
equately skill the world’s largest youth population, the BJP/ NEP 2016. Three months later,
NDA 3.0 and succeeding governments have no option but to her successor HRD minister
ideate resource mobilisation and deployment strategies to Prakash Javadekar dismissed
more than double the national expenditure for public edu- the report as “only one of the
cation from the current 2.7 percent of GDP to 7 percent,” inputs” for framing a new NEP.
wrote your editors in the cover story titled ‘Skilling reskill- EW comment. In a cover story
ing upskilling fever raging countrywide’ (EW August 2024). titled ‘Subramanian Commit-
tee Report: Love’s labour lost’
National Institutional Ranking Frame- (EW November), your editors
work. On April 4, the first official (Union endorsed the comprehensive
HRD ministry) league tables ranking the reforms-oriented report. “The detailed 217-page report di-
Top 100 Indian universities, engineering agnoses the myriad ills of the country’s education system
colleges and B-schools were released in (KG-Ph D) which has suffered continuous under-funding
New Delhi. Based on a National Insti- and neglect, and the reality that contemporary India grudg-
tutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ingly hosts the world’s largest child population (480 mil-
devised by a 16-member “core committee” of academics lion). It proposes comprehensive reform… but the well-rea-
selected by the HRD ministry, the first-ever government soned, constructive and indeed erudite recommendations
league tables evaluated category ‘A’ higher education insti- of the Subramanian Committee have little chance of being
tutions under six parameters, viz, teaching, learning and incorporated into the New Education Policy 2016,” wrote

52 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024