Notwithstanding the Tamil Nadu government’s continued opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), Governor R.N. Ravi backed the policy on Monday, hailing it as a comprehensive document that opened new vistas in the education sector. According to him, the value and the worth of the policy was not being fully appreciated as many people had not read it fully.
Delivering the presidential address at the 13th convocation of the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU) in Chennai, he said most of the people he had interacted with had only read the opinion articles about the NEP in the media, and not the policy itself.
He brought up NEP in his speech while referring to a couple of appeals made to him by Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy during the latter’s address earlier at the convocation.
“Certain suggestions were made by the Pro Chancellor [Mr. Ponmudy] in his speech about advising UGC [University Grants Commission] for certain things. I would suggest [that you] kindly go through the NEP. You see the vast vistas it opens,” Mr. Ravi said.
Welcoming a suggestion made by IIT-Madras Director V. Kamakoti to TNOU to provide opportunities for those who had discontinued their college education to finish their degrees, Mr. Ponmudy appealed to the Governor to recommend to the UGC that such opportunities be provided to college dropouts.
He also appealed to the Governor to make a recommendation to the UGC that Annamalai University be allowed to continue offering distance education courses.
In his speech, the Governor said the NEP offered a multidisciplinary approach to education. “[If a person] had a break and wants to resume the course, these [options] are all there in the policy,” he said.
He suggested that TNOU also look into the policy. He said it could constitute a cell to look at the aspects that could be implemented, and how to overcome difficulties, if any.
V-Cs’ meet
Referring to his recent meeting with the Vice-Chancellors of all State-run and private universities in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Ravi said he was encouraged by all the ideas that came up at the meeting. “These have been documented and sent to the State and Central governments. I am sure this will constitute a valuable guide to the way forward,” he said.
Though women constituted a majority of the graduands in all the universities he visited in Tamil Nadu, there was room for improvement in engaging them productively in the workforce after they graduated, he said.
He lauded TNOU for managing its finances well, unlike most other universities in the State which, he said, were looking to the government for funding all the time.
Mr. Kamakoti spoke on the opportunities being offered by technological advances in providing education through the online mode. He highlighted the idea of online laboratories that enabled the simulation of science experiments for students, rather than their having to visit physical laboratories. He said TNOU and IIT-Madras could collaborate to design new courses with the help of such latest technologies.
TNOU Vice-Chancellor K. Parthasarathy, whose tenure would end in a few days, presented the annual report and highlighted the achievements of the university. A total of 19,363 graduates received their degrees, of whom 359 received them in person and the rest in absentia. The university awarded Ph.Ds for the first time. Twenty-two persons received their Ph.Ds.
