Is CBCS In India Narrowing The Role Of Education From Promoting All Round Development
To Training Marketable Skills?
By Dr. Swaleha Sindhi
27 July, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Introduction
All the major higher education institutions across the world are implementing a system of credits. For instance, we have the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) in Europe’s universities, the ‘National Qualifications Framework’ in Australia. There is the Pan-Canadian Protocol on the Transferability of University Credits. In the UK, we have the Credit Accumulation and Transfer System (CATS). Even the systems operating in the US, Japan, etc. are based on credit system. India too adopted the CBCS on recommendations of both the 11th five year plan and the National Knowledge Commission to ensure quality in higher education. National Knowledge Commission has called for reform of existing universities to ensure frequent curricula revisions, introduction of course credit system, enhancing reliance on internal assessment, encouraging research, and reforming governance of institutions. Thus the University Grants Commission,
India’s statutory body for higher education proposed a semester pattern in curriculum instead of yearly examinations and grades instead of numerical percentages in mark sheets with minimum 90 days of teaching for learner teacher engagement and made the CBCS mandatory for all 400 public universities at the undergraduate and postgraduate level beginning in the academic year 2015-2016. Under Choice-based Credit System (CBCS), students pursue three types of courses - Compulsory Foundation Courses (relating directly to the subject of study), Elective Courses (allowing for interdisciplinary studies) and Core subjects, where it is compulsory to pursue core subjects every semester and choose electives from a pool of subjects unrelated to their disciplines. This means a Science student can opt for any subject of Commerce or Arts discipline as an elective.
Objectives of CBCS
The main objectives of introducing CBCS by UGC are:
To bring reforms in Indian higher education
To enhanced learning opportunities
To match learners scholastic needs and aspirations
To enable interuniversity transferability of learners
To improve quality of education and excellence
To bring greater flexibility to complete the course
To make standardization and comparability of educational programmes across the country.
According to UGC guidelines, in the new system there is a shift in focus from teacher-centric to learner-centric education. Emphasis is on studying/learning and not on teaching, with the learner being at the centre stage of all academic transactions.
Elements of CBCS
Following are the basic elements of CBCS:
1. Semesters:
2. Credit system:
3. Credit transfer:
4. Comprehensive continuous assessment:
5. Grading:
Importance of CBCS in India
The current higher education curriculum in India does not impart the necessary skills that would make the students employable adequately; there is a lack of interdisciplinary approach. The traditional method used teacher centric approach, the evaluation methods are largely based on memory recall processes which do not allow students to learn, think or analyse on their own thus the system is not effective enough in meeting/ empowering students to think on matters/issues independently. While the CBCS is aimed at ushering in a multi-disciplinary approach to undergraduate curriculum, enabling students to select courses from a wide range of disciplines to gain mastery of a subject of their choice and establish uniformity and parity within and across institutions; between Indian higher educational institutions and international institutions, which follow a similar pattern.
Challenges
It is important to emphasize the difference between curricula and syllabi which seems to be ignored in CBCS. A curriculum is prescriptive in nature, often nothing more than a broad set of principles. A syllabus is more concrete, providing details of readings, textbooks, examinations, and other related issues. There are challenges such as drafting the entire new syllabus, defining the credit system, motivating and training staff for smoother implementation, encouraging students to stay involved throughout the term and improving attendance, and continuous evaluation. The academic boards in the universities will have to play an important role to overcome these challenges and help in preparing the new syllabus in a definite time.
Conclusion:
The UGC has always initiated measures to bring efficiency and excellence in the Higher Education System of India but as far as CBCS is concerned it is too early to say if this system will be successful in the Indian Universities or not. The basic motive is to expand academic quality in all aspects, right from the curriculum to the learning-teaching process to examination and evaluation systems but the CBCS seems to narrow the role of education from encouraging the development of well-rounded individuals to training for marketable skilled workforce. CBCS seems to increase the need for faculty and workload of teachers, as institutions are supposed to widen their offerings to provide more optional courses but unfortunately, there was no attention paid on reflecting upon the curricular or pedagogic issues involved. Thus instead of targeting the core problem areas in the Indian education system, the CBCS is set to increase the already existing problems in the higher education. However considering the diversity the implementation of the choice based credit system seems to be a good system in assessing the overall performance of a student in a universal way of a single grading system. What is needed is that the universities implement the CBCS following some rigorous elaborate steps such as review of curricular contents, subdividing into units and subunits as well as assigning numerical values and termed credits. This will bring more clarity to the faculty, students and examiners.
Dr.Swaleha Sindhi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She can be mailed at: [email protected]
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