The steering committee tasked with implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in Maharashtra has been quietly dissolved, leaving a trail of unresolved questions for colleges and students. Formed three years ago, the committee held its final meeting in July and was disbanded without any official communication to the institutions it was meant to guide.
Committee Disbanded Amid Critical Phase
The 14-member steering committee was established in 2022, chaired by former Savitribai Phule Pune University vice-chancellor Nitin Karamalkar. This move came soon after the state government decided to roll out the 2020 national policy. With the policy initially implemented in autonomous colleges, each committee member was assigned as a mentor to at least ten institutions.
Principals from several autonomous colleges and some former committee members argue that the committee's guidance was crucial and should have continued at least until the first batch of students under NEP graduates. While some deliberations occurred in the first year, their frequency significantly reduced over time.
Key Unresolved Issues Plague Colleges
As the pioneering NEP batch is now set to graduate with three-year degrees or enter the novel fourth-year honours programme, colleges are grappling with a lack of directives on multiple fronts. One major concern is the mechanism for lateral entry into the fourth year. Colleges open to admitting external students face ambiguity over how the names of both the original and the fourth-year college will appear on the final degree certificate.
"If a student from a college X moves to a top-rung city college for the fourth year, how will he or she benefit if the degree only mentions the primary college's name?" questioned a principal, highlighting a significant credentialing dilemma.
Another grey area is the exercise of empowered autonomy status, which allows colleges to award degrees jointly with their parent university. Furthermore, there are numerous unanswered queries regarding:
- Credit sharing mechanisms between institutions.
- Operational details of the exit policy for students.
- Structure of honours programmes.
- Internships and on-job training for UG and PG students.
A former steering committee member confirmed that the state has not formally dissolved or continued the committee's work on paper, creating an administrative vacuum.
Postgraduate and Faculty Concerns Add to Confusion
The uncertainty extends to postgraduate education. For instance, there is no clarity on which body—the university or the colleges—will issue postgraduate diploma certificates to students who choose to exit after the first year of a master's programme, despite their eligibility.
Additionally, a pressing issue concerns faculty workload in the fourth year. The government provides funds only for aided master's programmes, but a vast majority of postgraduate courses are unaided. This discrepancy leaves colleges without clear guidelines on managing and compensating teaching staff for the additional year of instruction.
While the state government formed the Maharashtra State Academic and Research Council (MahaSARC) this year as an advisory body for higher education, it has yet to release any directives to address these pressing challenges. The dissolution of the steering committee, therefore, leaves autonomous colleges navigating the complex NEP landscape without a compass as the first cohort reaches critical academic milestones.
