PROCEEDINGS OF SEMINARS ON MONITORING & IMPLEMENTATIONS OF NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION- 1986' (RECOMMENDATIONS AND A PLAN OF FURTHER ACTION

 PREFACE

The National Policy on Education - 1986 and the Programme of Action will be considered milestones in the history of Indian education. The precursor to these two documents, "The Challenge of Education" will always remain a unique example of a nation debating the status of education before launching on a nationally acceptable policy. It places onerous responsibilities on all the bodies and individuals involved with education. Massive inputs in the form of trained manpower and physical resources are indispensable in a venture of this dimension.

While several schemes have been formulated and others are in the process of being formulated, many institutions, departments and organisations have already started to implement the NPE or have modified some of their existing programmes to fall in line with the details of NPE and POA. Several schemes and programmes related to higher and technical education have also been initiated in line with its objectives.

However, in order to carry out all the programmes and schemes as envisaged in the POA throughout the country, it is necessary to trace the progress of implementation regularly and constantly. Education reform of the scale envisaged by NPE has to be carefully planned and monitored. Without planning and monitoring implementation can be erratic if not partial. The Association of Indian Universities carried out a modest exercise in 1987 to highlight the need for monitoring of implementation of the NPE and the POA in the various universities and technical institutions.

It was a matter of great satisfaction for the AIU that its effort of 1987 was rewarded through an invitation by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to take up a nationwide exercise on monitoring of the implementation of NPE and the POA in the various universities. The AIU accepted this invitation and organised four seminars in various regions of the country to assess the status of implementation and to identify constraints if any, as well as to consider the development of formats and tools for continuous monitoring of NPE and POA at the tertiary level. This report is the result of the four seminars that were organised during April to July 1988.

The seminars were successful in so far as they brought about direct involvement of several functionaries from universities all over the country who discussed specific details of monitoring and implementation of the NPE and the

POA at the university level. The details of the deliberations as given in this volume speak for themselves. This report has several plus points :

i. It identifies all the critical areas in the NPE and the POA that deal with higher and technical education;

ii. it captures the present status of the implementation of the various programmes and schemes at the tertiary level;

iii. It carries detailed recommendations on various aspects of the implementation of NPE and POA;

iv. It identifies constraints, further inputs and necessary coordination between implementing agencies for more effective monitoring and implementation of NPE and the POA.

Perhaps it would be a rewarding exercise if the Ministry of Human Resource Development could juxtapose the NPE and the POA with this report and use it for modifications in the programmes for higher education wherever necessary. It is hoped that some of the recommendations made by the participants would be of direct relevance to such an exercise.

The section on "Further Proposed Action" given in this report specifically identifies various institutions, organisations and departments that need to further examine the recommendations made by the participants.

It is also hoped that this report would be of some use to the UGC and other bodies connected with higher and technical education. Most of all, the documents would be of use to individual universities and technical institutions who can each set up an effective Monitoring Cell for further strengthening the implementation of NPE and the POA.

The next logical step would be to devise formats and tools for monitoring of implementation of the various schemes and programmes. This would need technical inputs from expert institutions and individuals. The AIU would be extremely happy to participate in this national endeavour.

New Delhi November 15, 1988 S K Agrawala