From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Nov 30: The task force constituted by the State Government on the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 under the Chairmanship of former Chief Secretary S V Ranganath submitted its report to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in Vidhana Soudha on Monday November 30.
After receiving the report, the Chief Minister directed that Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwatha Narayana and Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, both of whom were present during the submission of the report by the S V Ranganath panel, to submit the report before the State Cabinet.
Prof M K Shridhar, member of the Task Force and also member of the Policy Formulation Committee of NEP 2020, said the country has adopted its own National Education Policy to suit the current educational needs of India.
Karnataka has played a key role in the policy formulation of NEP 2020, he said pointing out that the policy aims at giving greater priority for the role of government and also society in the country’s educational system.
Task Force members Arun Shahapur, MLC, Vasudev Atre, Prof Anurag Behar and senior officials of the Primary and Secondary Education Department as well as those of the Higher Education Department were present during the occasion.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS
School Education
• Ensuring the separation of the control and operation of the KSSEC and SSSA schools
• Restructuring of DSERT
• Attracting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds form gender incorporation and physically disabled Fund.
• Establishing Special Educational Zones in sufficient numbers
• Creating the single platform for all scholarships and including scholarships for the physically disabled
Higher Education
• Implementing the new Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act
• Creating Karnataka Higher Education Commission (KHEC) by enacting a separate legislation for the purpose
• Identifyng and establishing Special Educational Zones.
• Bringing all scholarships applicable to all students eligible for economic and socially deprived groups (ESDG) under a common platform
• Giving impetus to the graded empowerment of affiliated and autonomous colleges
LMS for Higher Education Improvement launched
Earlier, the Chief Minister launched the first-ever Learning Management System (LMS) for the comprehensive improvement of Higher Education in the State.
The LMS launched by Karnataka for the first time in the country would help in improving higher education standards as well as common entrance ratio, Yediyurappa said pointing out that it gave greater emphasis for digital learning.
The LMS undertaken by the State’s Higher Education Department would benefit the students of as many as 430 first grade government colleges, 87 government polytechnics and 14 government engineering in improving their standards of learning and also ensure constant evaluation of the teaching staff. The entire process would bring about revolutionary improvements in the higher education system, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said the learning management system would bring about positive changes and improvements in the learning standards of about 4.5 lakh students and 24,000 teachers.
The entire project is being implemented in Karnataka at a cost of Rs 34.14 crore in two phases. In the first phase, LMS based digital learning will be taken up and in the second phase 2,500 ICT-enabled classes will be started. The students will get the best of teaching equipment at their desired place and time and involve the evaluation of the abilities and weaknesses of each students.
The Chief Minister said the students will get the benefit of complete education through teaching, learning, regular examinations and evaluations that will help in improving the standards of teaching and learning.
Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwatha Narayana said LMS has been prepared to provide the best education of higher stands by utilizing the technological advances. The LMS enables the students to obtain the lessons both in online and offline modes from any place at any time. In addition, the LMS provides the details of the evaluation of each student.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, Prof M K Shridhar, member of the Task Force and also member of the Policy Formulation Committee of NEP 2020, Chief Minister’s Secretary Dr S Selvakumar and Collegiate Education Department Commissioner Pradeep Karola and other senior officials attended the function held in the Chief Minister’s Home Office, Krishna.