Soon, top institutes to offer online degrees IITB students who eat nonveg told to use separate plates
NEW START Those with top NAAC grade will be able to offer such programmes
NEW DELHI: The top 15% higher educational institutions will soon be allowed to offer degree programmes through online mode in various non-technical disciplines to increase the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education from the current 25.2% to at least 30% by 2022.
The ministry of human resource development has formulated draft regulations for this, which will soon be given a final shape and notified.
“Institutions with A+ or A++ NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) grade will be able to offer online degree programmes in various non-technical disciplines. They will offer degree, diploma and other certificate programmes online,” said human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar at the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) on Tuesday.
“Top 15% institutions, which have secured 3.26 and above score in NAAC grading (A+ or A++) will get permission,” he said.
Institutions will have to make “separate provisions” for staff and faculties to conduct the online courses, Javadekar added.
“The proposal to allow higher educational institutions conduct online degree programmes is different from Swayam. Under the new plan, institutions will be able to offer 100% degree courses in open and online mode only in non-technical disciplines, instead of just 20% of the course as is the case with Swayam,” he explained. Under Swayam students of the universities and other higher educational institutions can complete 20% of their degree, diploma and certificate programmes across all disciplines, including engineering.
He further said that the regulations to be notified for the online degree courses will provide for a “foolproof mechanism” to assess the performance of the students.
“Proctored examinations will be held every semester,” said a senior HRD official.
The issue of regional disparities in the availability of higher educational institutions was discussed at length at the CABE meeting and it was decided that both central and state governments, where the GER is low, will work out perspective plans to set up new colleges to meet the demand. MUMBAI: An email sent to students of one of the hostels at the Indian Institute of TechnologyBombay (IIT-B) has left many of them angry. The email requests non-vegetarian students to use separate plates in their hostel mess to avoid mix-up of plates.
The request comes after several vegetarian students complained to the administration of hostel 11 of the institute.
“I am getting complaints from many students who want students who eat non-vegetarian food to use separate plates. Therefore, this is a request to all non-veg eaters, to please only use the tray type plates meant specially for non-veg dishes . Please do not use the main plates for non-veg dishes,” said the email.
The email was sent by the mess council of hostel 11 which includes students residing in the hostel.
A statement by the mess council, issued a few days after the email was sent, said the email was only sent to reiterate a rule which is already in place.
“For years, non-vegetarian food has been served in a separate plate and we only asked students to maintain the rule. This was not meant to offend anyone,” said a student.
Within a couple of days, students took to social media to raise their concerns against the “hypocritical” views of their fellow students.
“Purity pollution concern reaches new heights! Next there’ll be separate plates for different caste and religion,” said another student of the premium engineering college on the condition of anonymity.
“All hostels anyway have separate plates for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food so I don’t know why this email was sent in the first place. What’s worse is that it is also being misunderstood by many,” said Soumyo Mukherji, dean, student affairs, IIT-B.
AN EMAIL SENT TO STUDENTS OF ONE OF THE HOSTELS ASKS NONVEGETARIAN STUDENTS TO USE SEPARATE PLATES