Education is a much desirable apparatus and an enlightened experience of acquiring knowledge and dexterity which helps young minds to adequately equip themselves to respond to the new challenging demands of the social paraphernalia. It involves a process of training via which the manifestations of one’s will and desires are given a civilized construct and thus helps them to flourish in tandem with the similar revelation of others in the society. Education in the process becomes spontaneous and unqualified in nature. It infact is an inevitable part of human existence.
With such an enlightened understanding of education our Hon. Prime Minister Modi had put his best foot forward to pursue the cause of an educated and enlightened India since the inception of his tenure.
Our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi is a great intellectual at home and abroad. His personality notable for its comprehensive and deep sensitiveness to the evils prevalent in the socio-economic and moral structure of our society has found apt reflection in his passionate educational policies which has been in force since he assumed office. His stupendous willpower and energy to bring about regeneration of India made him act like a warrior for the cause and pursuit of education.
For Narendra Modi education is a man making and character building process. Deriving immense inspiration from Vivekananda’s philosophy of life Modi’s government has time to time asserted via its educational norms that creativity,originality, and excellence should be the hall mark of our education policy. Indianisation of our education is the cornerstone of such a policy. As such we should have no qualms in admitting that the structure of our present government has in mind the development of a strong sense of patriotism,rationalism and modernity amongst the mind of the students particularly at the stage of higher education, a stage where young minds begin to meaningfully involve themselves in arenas which would prepare themselves to take on the society and the world. An impartial look at Modi’s educational policies over a period of time enables us to comprehend that they seek to ultimately take our society towards freedom, salvation modernity and universal brotherhood by demolishing the walls of segregation and disunity. Proximately they seek to promote the goals of physical and mental development via character building and vocational schemes. Conclusively they seek to promote universal brotherhood thereby paving the path for the birth of vigorous minds and a New India ready to take on the world on a new and a strong footing.
Modi’s educational policies in-fact seeks to revive the fundamental principles of our civilization as they have been significantly ignored and bypassed by the previous non BJP governments under the pressure of petty politics and policies. The guiding motto of his schemes on education thus stands not for mere accumulation of ideas but a comprehensive training for life. For such a mammoth training Modi’s government has significantly laid stress on physical health / pursuit of Yoga besides the pursuit of the essentials of modern education, as he believes that a sound mind and a sound body goes hand in hand. Thus our country should feel proud to concede that our present government lays emphasis on an educational policy via which strong character is formed, strength of mind is augmented and faculties become sharp edged, thereby enabling one to be self-reliant and confident. Armed with such an indepth and meaningful perception of education, our country today experiences an era where education has been projected not as an essential constituent of social existence but an indispensable condition for social progress and reformation. Within such an eloquent framework the present government has been undertaking numerous robust schemes, the most significant of them have been considered.
The Ministry of Human Resource and Development has initiated an innovative and major programme called the “Study Web of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds”( SWAYAM) to ensure that students across the country irrespective of any considerations have easy access to the best quality higher education at a bearable cost. The uniqueness of this scheme is designed to promote the salient goals of accessibility, equity and quality. It is an enrichment scheme as it seeks to enlighten our society by bridging the digital divide between learners, particularly targeting the economically and socially deprived sections who have hitherto been deprived of digital knowledge and thereby were forced to remain untouched by the gains of digital transition. This scheme provides a new learning experience at it makes use of audio-video and multi-media and state of the art technologies for the facilitation of the courses made available. SWAYAM was formally inaugurated on 09.07.2017 by the Honourable President of India and till date more than twenty three lakhs students have registered on SWAYAM platform and a total of near thirty seven lakhs enrollments have been made in the diverse courses offered under its aegis.
The Ministry of Human Resource and Development under the stewardship of Shri Prakash Javadekar has infact sought to transform the educational landscape of our country in terms of its standards, coverage, content and delivery system. Embarking on an unprecedented and an innovative process the centrally sponsored scheme of “Rashtriya Vichatra Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was introduced during the period 2014-17 to improve the quality, access and equality of higher education system in the states. Sixty educationally backward districts were selected in which one Model Degree College would be set up in each with the help of assistance coming from the central government. Out of the selected sixty districts, ten districts were placed as aspirational districts. In each of such districts new Model Degree Colleges were to be set up. The central assistance provided for the Model Degree Colleges is mainly infrastructural in nature with a conditionality attached to such a provision. Funds to be released by the Centre calls for a prior commitment by the concerned state governments that recurring expenditures in respect of the MDC would be borne by them. This scheme has gone a long way to benefit the North Eastern and Himalayan states which have always been in dire need of qualitative transformation in the sphere of higher education particularly.
Our Hon’ble Prime Minister along with the MHRD has been making persistent efforts to bring governance with the reach of every individual in our country. To fructify such a holistic goal an unique initiative has been undertaken in the form ofSmart India Hackathon. This programme is meant to identify new and creative technological innovation for solving the numerous challenges faced by our country. This programme is primarily meant for the technology students as their creativity and expertise get an opportunity to be fruitfully channelized and that too in the service of the nation. This programme has been crucial to take India ahead in its mission of a Digital Nation where an improved quality of life would be of prime significance. As a part of such a wide scheme National e-library has also been envisaged as an online portal to democratize access to knowledge by ensuring that central universities and premier educational bodies make available quality based information/knowledge in digital forms. Wide coverage and attempts to universalize courses of knowledge and making them accessible to students across the country has been the motive behind the provision of e-library faculties. Students countrywide can now have access to quality content through their laptops, smart phones and the like.
To encourage major investments for initiating high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions, the present government has also set up the Higher Education Financing Agency.This agency which was approved by the Cabinet in 2016 has been providing substantial funds for strengthening infrastructural facilities and growth of world class IITs / IIMs and other such institutions. To help the cause of our industries and to make them more efficient and innovative, solutions are being encouraged to come from the technology institutions. Thus the “Uchchtar Aavishkar Abhiyan” has been set up with adequate funds being allotted to it every year so that industries requiring innovation are identified and solutions provided. This scheme is in fact meant to globalize the operational competitiveness of our industries and help the country march ahead in industrial and educational arenas.
What makes Modi’s government stand apart from its predecessors is its commitment to encourage and nurture young students to develop new ideas and initiatives so that they are trained and thus adequately equipped to face the numerous challenges faced by our society in areas such as economy, education, food, water, transportation etc. As innovation alone can provide succorin such a situation, innovation cells are being set up in all Higher Educational Institutions. These cells are meant to channelize the innovative faculties of the brilliant students for the cause of the nation and humanity at large.
Modi’s dream of digital India has had its reach among academic institutions as well. Issuing of degrees, diplomas and certificates along with mark-sheets is just a natural follow up of the examination process. Very often such records maintained in papers run the risk of getting damaged in due course of time. Natural and other calamities can also ruin such records. In case of such an eventuality students have to face a lot of hardships to get back their original documents once again. It involves painstaking and lengthy procedures to retrieve old records from original registers and records. To obliterate such an unwanted predicament the present government under the patronage of Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Prakash Javadekar has set up the National Academic Depositary (NAD), a 24×7 online store house of all academic records at the school and University levels in the main so that the concerned documents are guaranteed a safe storehouse while helping to preserve their authenticity as well. Students today are a relieved lot as they can now have accessto their verified awards / mark-sheets free of any hassles. Such arrangements have helped to curb fraudulent practices to a large extent as transparency and accessibility have entered the domain of educational bodies. Authenticity and integrity has now become the hall marks of educational bodies. This is indeed an unique and commendable achievement of the Modi Government.
It is common knowledge that the University Grants Commission was established in 1956, via an act of the parliament for catering to the requirements of higher education. It was mainly responsible for matters relating to determination of standards in institutions for higher education involving both scientific and technical institutions. But unfortunately enough this prestigious body over a period of six decades has failed to live up to its expectations of focusing on issues relating to standards and quality improvement in higher education. As a corrective measure our present government has taken a very significant decision to repeal the UGC act of 1956 and tobring into existence the “Higher Education Commission of India” (HECI), a body charged with the responsibility of bringing about a resplendent educational arrangement at the higher level committed to setting standards and accelerating academic excellence so that our education system finds a place of prominence at the global level both in terms of quality and performance. HECI has been a subject of intense criticism by the opposition parties as it seeks to make transparent the decision making process relating to standards and quality in higher education and initiate pro-activeness in the process of public disclosures. HECI was thus meant to operate as a higher education regulator. It infact would revolutionize the higher education system as it lays emphasis on the autonomy of educational institutions with regard to its management issues and seek to facilitate access and augment opportunities for all section of the society.
Much goes to the credit of Modi’s government as he hasleft no stone unturned to initiate a comprehensive and an all embracinggrowth of higher education and research system in the country. Such efforts are meant to equip our educational institutions with such opportunities and standards of excellence that they would be qualified to compete with similar institutions at the international level. Such schemes would not only promote the cause of administrative and financial autonomy of the educational institutions but would in the process bring about a positive and meaningful transformation in the intellectual climate of the country.
HECI, which has the sole intention of promoting excellence in academic institutions and upgrading academic standards has in-fact challenged the opposition parties and exposed their unholy attempt to retain a system where emphasis was to be on the size, scale and intricacies of the higher education sector with a total sidelining of issues relating to academic quality and improved educational standards. The proposed HECI thus is a bold step of our government and once it is set operational it would change the educational history of our country and open its door to the world.
The exposition and a detail investigation of Shri Prakash Javadekar’s scheme of higher education, under the patronage of Shri Narendra Modi bring to focus its constructive, practical, modern and comprehensive disposition. He has very timely recognized the educational needs of modern India and sought to revolutionize the entire field of education within the framework of science, technology and digitalization. He advocated a scheme of education that would infuse a new spirit and a new blood among the youth who would be the makers of NEW INDIA. Through education and its related schemes the MHRD has sought to reform the entire society and take it on a journey the destiny of which would be a strong, fearless, modern and digital India. The foundation of such a scheme of things to come has already been laid and to ensure its successful accomplishment would be guaranteed with the return of the present government in 2019.
Dr. (SHAIKH) AQUIL AHMAD
Associate Professor
University of Delhi
Mobile: 8851448754/ 9911796525
Email: [email protected]
Website: people.du.ac.in/~aahmad
