DELINKING OF DEGRESS FROM JOBS AND MANPOWER PLANNING
1. The Policy visualizes de-linking of university degrees from the requirement for recruitment to services for which a university degree need not be a necessary qualification. It is also envisaged that this measure will lead to a refashioning of job-specific-courses.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES 2. Different jobs require different combination of knowledge, skills and aptitudes. Performance in an academic examination may not, therefore, be the appropriate means of screening candidate for employment. There are, in addition, problems of comparability of grades/marks awarded by the universities.
3. An important first step towards matching education with employment is the formulation of programmes of education and training related to available employment opportunities. This would require a scientific analysis of the job requirements for various positions, and tailoring appropriate programmes of education and training to impart the knowledge and skills required for the performance of those jobs.
4. When once the training programmes are introduced, for identified job positions, it would be necessary to prescribe certificates/diplomas obtained after such training as a necessary qualification for recruitment. Such a measure is necessary also to promote vocationalisation of education.
5. Where comprehensive recruitment examinations are conducted by recruiting agencies, the possibility of dispensing with the requirement of formal degrees as a qualification may be considered. Delinking should ensure that the craze for degrees is discouraged and that pressure on higher education is reduced.
6. To begin with, it is proposed to create a Cell in the Department of Personnel for identifying the jobs for which recruitment requirements can be reviewed on the lines indicated above. Such a review will be initiated in consultation with the concerned Ministries/Departments.
7. Later, it is proposed to persuade other recruitment agencies like the State Governments, Public Undertakings, and private enterprises to undertake a similar review.
NATIONAL TESTING SERVICE 8. The policy envisages the establishment of a National Testing Service to conduct tests on a voluntary basis to determine the
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suitability of candidates for specified jobs and to pave the way for emergence of norms of comparable competence across the nation.
9. In order to give shape to this policy, it is proposed to establish a National Testing Service as early as possible and to conduct the first test before the end of 1987. The primary use of such a test will be to allow people, whether they have formal degrees or not, to demonstrate that they have the proficiency to qualify for a variety of jobs that have been traditionally limited to graduates. Such a test can also help those in employment to qualify for promotions.
10. Specially designed tests can also be administered at the national level for the purpose of entry to educational institutions at various levels. For example, a single test at +2 level conducted on a national basis can replace a multiplicity of entrance examinations to universities and colleges, specially professional courses like engineering, medicine, etc. Similarly, a test conducted at the Bachelors' degree level can determine the eligibility of candidates for-admission to Master's degree courses irrespective of the fact that the concerned universities have declared the bachelor's degree results. At the Master's degree level, a similar test can determine the suitability of candidates for admission to research degrees, award of fellowships, etc.
11. It is proposed to develop a National Testing Service to perform the functions indicated above on a voluntary basis. Tests will be developed very carefully on expert advice based on experience. The NTS will be established under the auspices of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The Department of Education of the Ministry-of HRD, would take early steps to have a detailed project report prepared for the establishment of the Testing Service.