All we have is a single life. But we still dare to dream ourselves differently along different times. This planet is one of a kind.
In addition to the miraculous and enchanting human world, it provides a perfect playfield to test one’s curiosity and caress one’s passion to learn about so many different things encircling our lives.
No soul shall be worthy of being judged for desiring knowledge sourcing out of different arenas. Its okay to run after learning law and politics and Science and psychology together.
The world is integrated, why can’t our studies traverse through varying knowledge pools, those had been considered discrete so far.
Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), a scheme recently introduced by the Indian government aims to remove this anomaly in education and learning.
JNU vice-chancellor while welcoming the move said:
“Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) scheme in higher education will help students to carve out their own learning path to attain academic qualifications as per their time choices and mobility across disciplines and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).”
“It will not only help the students but also the working adults who would like to enhance their skills by accessing high quality education available in different HEIs.”
Prime Minister with his public address for “Transformative Reforms under NEP” on completion of a year of NEP (New Education Policy) 2020, introduced several schemes under it as the harbingers of transforming education in India.
What is Academic Bank of Credit?
ABC is an open, multi-entry and multi-exit educational system that recognizes diverse learning experiences gained in school as well as higher educational Institutions (HEIs).
Set-up by the University Grants Commission (UGC), it allows students to take a break from the degree or course (financial or other reasons) and get a corresponding certification.
And then re-join studies later at a stage where one can pick up from where they had left off. It offers the flexibility to an individual to move between institutes while pursuing one degree or leave a course.
This can help in making the education infrastructure open, inclusive and accessible.
According to Educationists: “NEP 2020 in the coming years may provide academic flexibility, effective learning and promote innovation and creativity.”
It is a student-centric scheme that offers a learning-friendly approach, nurturing a multi-disciplinary holistic education preference to the strict and rigid education system.
Such a stiff system has been blamed for loss of years and semesters to its own students, even with failed degrees. ABC can therefore decrease dropouts and increase enrolment ratio in Indian higher education.
ABS aims to develop a national-level facility for flexibility of the curriculum undertaken in Indian institutions and inter-discipline academic mobility of students across higher education institutions but with guided credit transfer mechanisms to earn a course or diploma.
Students shall be given freedom to select the best of courses or combinations available, suiting their own aptitude and quest for knowledge. Afterall, inclinations yield the best of works and maybe one bigger reason for an increase in work efficiency.
If tended seriously, this can further promote Interdisciplinarity (cross-stream studies) which provides a remedy to the harmful effects of excessive specialization or isolation, particularly lack of integration, in the knowledge silos.
How will the ABC work in education environment?
ABC aims to maintain records of the academic credits of every student.
It will do so by accepting the credit course document directly from the higher education institutes where the student may be pursuing a course. These HEIs will have to make concerned deposits in students’ accounts on this online virtual space.
But in order to succeed, more and more Institutions need to register for this scheme.
ABC will help in credit verification, accumulation, transfer and the consequent redemption of students, giving them due importance in the international fora.
Academic Bank of Credit: critical analysis of advantages v/s criticism
When the world nations are moving closer towards greater knowledge sharing, innovation and open environment, India cannot afford to remain in its isolation by continuing to follow a rigid system of offering educational degrees.
Increased accountability is one benefit of this scheme as students may find it easy to switch in between their years of importance.
It can also spur competition and standardization within the Indian higher education infrastructure, integrating all the stakeholders in a robust chain.
Thus, ABC is one step closer to the globalization of Indian education system.
However, this finds criticism too. Some experts have even speculated the crowding of foreign universities into Indian higher education system.
Academic Bank of Credit, they fear is apparently a part of the larger plan to promote privatization of higher education and reduce the government’s expenditure on initially public-funded liberal education.
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has pointed out certain loopholes those have been overlooked by the Government before creating such a framework:
“An innate digital divide of access (rural/urban/region/gender), affordability (rich/poor) and impact on working conditions of teachers with fluctuating workload which will lead to loss of employment and casualization/contractualization”.
The Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey released during Pandemic has envisaged a glitch residing in the levels of learning the students in rural India are experiencing.
India’s poor performance and then withdrawal in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) has led to widespread resentment.
This needs to be corrected, NEP has the potential to restructure the way learning has taken place for decades and centuries. It may challenge Indian youth to embark their own journeys towards greater knowledge.
Because current human problems and issues like Climate change, human rights, increasing inequality etc. cannot be solved merely by undertaking single-headed studies, Integration of knowledge is what we need for greater benefits.