Changes proposed by NEP 2020 are necessary: Barpeta Girls’ College

A CORRESPONDENT

BARPETA: Barpeta Girls’ College organized a national seminar sponsored by the ICSSR - NERC on the topic of ‘NEP 2020: Its Impact on the Rural Higher Educational Institutions’ on April 11 and April 12.

The seminar started with the inaugural ceremony on April 11 in which Dr Birinchi Kumar Das, Principal of the college, gave the welcome address and expressed his hope that the seminar would pave the way for finding solutions to various questions and apprehensions that had cropped up in respect of the National Education Policy-2020.

Inaugurating the seminar, Prof. (Dr) Birinchi Kumar Das, Vice Chancellor of Bhattadev University, said that there was nothing to be scared of about the National Education Policy-2020, because emphasis would be on wider use of technology in education, there would only be limited changes in the pattern of study, and some changes were also necessary keeping in view the changing scenario. He said that it was necessary to focus on employability of the students so that with a secure future they could contribute to the well-being of the society. In the new system, students would get opportunities to select the areas of their interest within the common subjects, he said.

Barindra Bhuyan, president of the governing body of Barpeta Girls’ College, also spoke on various issues pertaining to present day education. Attending the seminar as the keynote speaker, Dr Dilip Bora, Professor in the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, Gauhati University, said that the changes that the NEP 2020 intended to bring were no doubt important, but there were also certain questions the answers of which were to be found out. He also spoke about some misconceptions going on in the country about education and research.

The academic session that followed was chaired by Dr. Jyotiraj Pathak, Principal of North Kamrup College, who began the session by pointing out the fact that there was a wide gap between the demands of the NEP 2020 and the realities of the rural colleges. Various participants coming from various places presented their papers.

On April 12, Dr Brajendra Nath Raychoudhury, retired Head of the UGC (Nero), Guwahati and retired Registrar of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati gave the keynote address. He elaborated about the challenges the rural colleges might face after implementation of the NEP 2020, particularly in respect of autonomy of the colleges. He also said that if according to the NEP 2020 the foreign universities were allowed to open their campuses widely in the country, it might add to the problems of the rural colleges.

Dr Manjit Das, Professor in the Department of Economics, Bodoland University chaired the academic session in which papers were presented by various participants. From the chair, Dr Das commented on the difficulties that might grow as a result of the implementation of the NEP 2020. But he also said that the changes that the NEP 2020 proposed were also necessary.

The seminar came to an end with the valedictory programme in which a report on the whole seminar was presented by Zahidul Islam Khan and certificates were distributed to the participants.