Page 88 - EducationWorld May 2021

Teacher-2-Teacher

Vital importance of

capacity building

DR. R.S. GREWAL

HE NEW NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY (NEP) In its recommendations the Kasturiran-
2020 was presented to the country and public on
July 29 last year. But as was the case with NEP- gan Committee identified faculty capac-
T1968 and NEP-1986, progress in implementing it ity building as a critical prerequisite of
is very slow.
NEP 2020 is substantially the outcome of the 484-page improving HEIs. But NEP 2020 makes
report of the K. Kasturirangan Committee presented to the only a passing reference to it
Union HRD (now education) ministry on December 15,
2018. In its recommendations for higher education the
KR committee had identified faculty capacity building as a tion that high-quality education can be availed at low price.
critical prerequisite of strengthening and improving HEIs HEIs can increase the remuneration of faculty only if
(higher education institutions). they are allowed to charge realistic fees from students. Col-
Regrettably, apart from generic platitudes, NEP 2020 lege and university fees have been frozen for decades and
makes only a passing reference to faculty capacity building are totally disconnected with the cost of education provi-
in the country’s also-ran HEIs, none of whom are ranked sion. Admittedly, meritorious youth from socio-economi-
among the global Top 200 in the authoritative WUR (World cally disadvantaged households should not be shut out of
University Rankings) of the highly-respected HEIs assess- higher education because of their financial circumstances.
ment and ranking agencies QS and Times Higher Educa- Therefore options such as targeted, means-tested scholar-
tion. Although it’s universally accepted that high-quality ships and long-term soft loans need to be offered to ensure
faculty is critical for excellence in teaching-learning and re- accessibility.
search, NEP 2020 contains no constructive solutions — let oreover, although it’s expensive, there is the option
alone a roadmap — for faculty capacity building in India’s Mof HEIs recruiting foreign mentor professors to train
55,000 colleges and almost 1,100 universities. faculty. In the immediate years after independence, indus-
Unfortunately, for the past several decades, the brightest trialist-philanthropist G.D. Birla invited faculty from the
graduates and postgrads seldom opted to enter the teach- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA to train and
ing profession. That’s because instead of valuing teachers mentor faculty of BITS-Pilani during its formative years. As
as national assets, schools and HEIs tend to treat them as a result, graduates of BITS-Pilani are readily welcomed into
mere employees. Not only are teachers and professors mod- respected corporates in India and abroad. Satya Nadella,
estly remunerated, they are accorded low status in Indian incumbent CEO of Microsoft Inc, is a BITS-Pilani alumnus.
society. There was a time in our country when kings rose Developing the abundant and high-potential human cap-
from their thrones to welcome learned teachers who were ital of the youngest national population worldwide, requires
venerated as fonts and disseminators of wisdom. But today skilled teachers and academics with domain and general
they are tolerated, rather than respected in Indian society. knowledge who can teach by innovating through creative
A major share of the blame for this unsatisfactory situ- classrooms. This requires effective use of contemporary
ation has to be laid at the collective door of teachers them- digital technologies and learning management systems, fa-
selves. Their mindsets and pedagogies are of the 1930s. miliarity with new pedagogies such as flipped classrooms,
The academic community, and this includes assistant gamification, social media, and computer-based testing.
professors, associate professors and professors in HEIs, Although the country’s handful of metro and tier-1 HEIs,
is nowhere near as competent — especially in the area of with close connections with corporate India, can perhaps
original and innovative research — as their counterparts in do it themselves, faculty training and professional develop-
top-ranked Western universities. Worse, they seem quite ment in the majority of the country’s regional and small
satisfied with the status quo and show little interest and town higher ed institutions that host 95 percent of tertiary
inclination for self-improvement. Therefore training and students, needs special attention.
professional development of 1.45 million higher ed faculty India’s languishing HEIs need mentor professors with
is a major challenge facing contemporary India. missionary zeal and passion to build faculty capability. De-
Sustained neglect of formal teacher training and pro- spite the Kasturirangan Committee having accorded high
fessional development now demands special measures for importance to this subject, it has received little attention
capacity building comprising motivation and coercion. Self- in the national discourse on NEP 2020. However the plain
evidently, remuneration and service conditions of faculty truth is that teacher training and faculty development is
in HEIs need to be overhauled to attract academic toppers the non-negotiable precondition of reaping India’s much-
with idealism and positive value-premises to teach in the proclaimed demographic dividend.
country’s colleges and universities. The precondition of this (Brig. (Dr) R.S. Grewal, VSM, is a former vice chancellor of Chitkara
is that government and the middle class must shed the no- University)

88 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2021