BATTLING COVID THE INSTITUTIONAL WAY
“WE ARE FORTUNATE THAT THE PRESENT GENERATION OF LEARNERS ARE QUICK TO ADAPT TO TECHNOLOGY ONCE THEY HAVE ACCESS TO IT”
The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown have disrupted our lives and severely affected the higher education system. Continuing with routine academic and research activities while ensuring the educational fraternity remains safe and healthy has been the biggest challenge. To ensure uninterrupted teaching and learning at home and to minimise academic losses, the UGC advised all the universities to shift to online mode of teaching and learning. There has been an institutional effort to combat Covid-19 through knowledge, technology and innovation. Institutions have tried to leverage the potential of technology, but there are challenges, and we are yet to fully integrate online teaching and learning in mainstream higher education. There are also limitations with regard to access for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, internet supply and technical knowhow of the instructional design, particularly in rural/ tribal areas. We are fortunate that the present generation of learners are quick to adapt to technology once they have access to it. This is a manifestation of the story of India’s digital growth.
The higher education system has tried to adapt to the crisis. Technology, considered yesterday’s disruptor, has become today’s saviour. Right now, various video conferencing apps are providing our higher education institutions a lifeline. But we need to have a robust and multi-faceted response plan involving collective efforts at the faculty, student and institutional level along with the government and regulatory bodies like the UGC. While the government and regulatory bodies have a role to play at the policy level, the institutions, the students and the faculty must be at the forefront in implementation. The closure of educational institutions has three different aspects to it— health and safety, the teaching-learning process and psychological issues. The top priority is to keep our students safe and healthy. Information-sharing and health awareness are vital to keep students and academic staff safe from infection. While keeping them safe, there is also an urgent need to continue their learning through different ways.
Home learning will help our student community come out of this difficult phase well. The most difficult part has been students grappling with psychological problems due to anxiety and stress with regard to academic losses, exams and the overall academic calendar. It is very important to maintain relationships and a sense of belonging for the cognitive emotional rehabilitation of affected students or academic staff. Very early into the lockdown, the UGC proactively constituted a ‘Task Force for Redressal of Grievances Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic’ and a dedicated helpline to handle grievances of the academic community. To reassure the students and to negate any stress or panic vis-à-vis their studies and health, the UGC issued a number of advisories to higher education institutions on the mental and psychosocial aspects we well as the well-being of students.
The ministry of human resource development (HRD) also launched the Manodarpan initiative to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families through a website, a toll-free helpline, national directory of counsellors and an interactive chat platform. A calm, assured and swift response at the individual level of students, faculty and staff will be key to finding a way through this situation.
At the second tier of our collective efforts, our institutions have a key role to play. The primary responsibility of the institution is to take intensive measures to protect all students and staff members from the disease. Reassuring the students and parents is the next vital element of institutional response. Institutional preparedness in terms of connecting teachers and students through online tools and platforms will help in mitigating the issue of engagement with the students. These engagements need to be valid, prompt and specific to the needs of our students. Traditional faceto-face education is of great significance and frequent exchange of dialogue between the teacher and the pupil is vital, but in the prevailing circumstances, we have to rely on online and blended modes of learning. Institutions are striving for distance-learning solutions from integrated digital learning platforms, video lessons, e-PG Pathshala, MOOCs through the SWAYAM portal and Swayamprabha DTH channels. While using technology for instructional design, our institutions need to focus on relevance, effective delivery, adequate support and risk management strategies for unexpected developments.
Another aspect is developing the
capacity of teachers to teach remotely. The preparedness and skills of teachers to teach and students to learn using technology and the role of family and parents to mitigate the complex environment at home is also important. The faculty members are in the process of transitioning to online teaching platforms. The MHRD, through the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT), and UGC, through its human resource development centres, (HRDCs) are organising short-term programmes to prepare the teachers for online education. There is still a need to strengthen online content, augment digital infrastructure and hi-tech, lowtech and no-tech approaches to ensure the communication channels between students and the faculty remain open.
The government and regulatory bodies like the UGC are at the next stage of our combined response. Keeping all stakeholders informed about the policy and practice is the primary task at this level. The UGC has been constantly engaging with institutions, faculty and the student community to find flexible ways for continuation of a student’s learning trajectories. The UGC released the ‘Guidelines on Examinations and Academic Calendar’ for the universities in April 2020 and subsequently a revised version was issued in July 2020 to ensure the health, safety and security of students, faculty and staff; conducting examinations and the declaration of results; facilitating students in the participation of further admissions, placement and research and charting out a plan for the next academic session. The UGC has also been trying to facilitate online and blended learning to ascertain a flexible, resilient and responsive education system.
The UGC is going to put in monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the online programmes of Indian universities are of global standards. Shortly, a new Integrated Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Online Programmes Regulations will be notified that will enable the 100 top universities to start Automatically Online Programmes as per the PM-eVidya programme under the Atmanirbhar Bharat announcement. Other betterperforming universities can also avail of this with the prior approval of the UGC. Degree level full-fledged online educational programmes will not only help expand our access and increase in GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) but also help in unforeseen situation like the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, the UGC recently approved increasing the capping of online education through MOOCs on SWAYAM platform in conventional universities from 20 to 40 per cent.
The UGC’s detailed Guidelines on Examinations and Academic Calendar are also in keeping with the consideration that learning assessment is the globally accepted feedback mechanism of education. The guidelines provide for the completion of the terminal semester/ final-year examinations by the end of September 2020 following the SoPs issued by the HRD ministry and duly vetted by the ministry of health and family welfare for health and safety. The institutions were provided with the options of offline (pen and paper)/ online/ blended (online plus offline) mode of examinations. There have been concerns with regard to the conduct of the examination; however, there was a need to plan keeping in view the larger interests and future prospects of students nationally and globally. Further, the UGC is ensuring that students do not face any inconvenience. The students of terminal semester/ final year who are unable to appear for exams will be given an opportunity to appear in special exams for such courses or papers. Finally, efforts are being made at all levels to keep the wheel of education rolling during these unprecedented times. We may also have to scale up our efforts. There is a need to settle into the new reality for the foreseeable future. Different approaches will be needed in different situational contexts. Different stakeholders at various levels of the education system will have different roles to play. This will be a vast exercise, but effective and constant engagement with the students with the abiding principle of ‘leave no one behind’ will be key.
UNIVERSITIES TODAY HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PRODUCE NOT JUST EMPLOYABLE INDIVIDUALS BUT CITIZEN SCHOLARS
India, considered a land of learning between the 1st and 8th centuries A.D., has the thirdlargest higher education system in the world. The country has been home to universities of repute such as Nalanda, Takshashila, Vallabhi, Vikramshila and Kanchipuram, yet the current Indian institutes of higher education have failed to make a mark in the international league of institutes of excellence. Having spent three decades in the field of higher education and as the steward of a university aspiring to be world class, I enumerate a few of my observations here.
Contemporary narratives in Indian higher education have pointed to the rise of private institutes as the reason behind the diminishing relevance of state and regional-level institutes, and for creating an imbalance between excellence and inclusion. Centres of excellence like the IITs, IIMs, IISc and central universities have a considerably lower student intake than in state and regional-level universities. A lack of infrastructure as well as qualified teachers are problems that come with the massification of higher education. It is this gap that private universities like CHRIST (deemed to be university) have filled. Christ functions like a state university in terms of student enrolment, has a global curriculum, research culture and pedagogy like that of centres of excellence and steers India towards becoming a knowledge society while keeping in mind ethical, inclusive and sustainable aspects as Unesco envisioned for the 21st century.
To bring Indian institutes at par with global institutes, one must identify outstanding students and provide them with challenging tasks and internship opportunities. At the same time, we need to create a bridge for students who fall short of expected levels in classrooms, by offering remedial courses. This can ensure that the potential of each student is developed. Institutions need autonomy to design and implement the learning outcome they have envisioned for their students. The state and central governments need to maintain a balance between regulation and intervention. Political interventions in the administration of universities and oneupmanship in defaming the institution through media bullying only brings down the morale of the stakeholders.
Universities have to give equal priority to teaching, research and human resource training, whether it is in upskilling or competency development. While faculty development and quality improvement programmes should be included in the academic calendar of an institution, it is also important to ensure that induction and orientation programmes are periodically conducted to inform and assimilate the stakeholders into the organisational culture and philosophy. Without such steps, one may not attain a balancing of faculty members’ time between teaching, research and building organisational culture. It is imperative for universities to focus on research to be recognised as world-class institutions. For this, universities should be linked to research institutes and expert departments, nationally and internationally, so that faculty and students can benefit from access to specialised laboratories and eminent researchers.
Students should have also be given a choice of interdisciplinary courses to widen exposure. Credit and semester system practice, choice-based courses for lifelong learning and national and international massive open online courses go a long way in helping students choose relevant courses. It is also important for universities to move up to international standards and provide quality education to their students. The National Institute Ranking Framework and grades for universities by the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditations Council) increase the quality of education provided. It is the responsibility of the university to work towards getting such accreditations.
Today’s universities have the great responsibility of producing not just employable individuals but citizen scholars and intellectual entrepreneurs. Therefore, there should be concerted efforts by education leaders to envision a university as a catalyst for social transformation. There is a need to turn to humanities and social sciences to be more sensitive to cultural, gender and environmental issues.
In the 21st century, networking and the internet lend themselves to exchange and interaction, and sharing becomes a democratic endeavour. So, universities today are poised to become knowledge societies that will thrive not through competition or emulation but on a spirit of collaboration for the common good. Our universities should become universitas magistrorum et scholarium—a community of teachers and scholars of various disciplines.