Karnataka launches NEP in engineering colleges

Karnataka has been speeding up the implementation of NEP despite opposition from various quarters over the contentious policy mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Union government.

Karnataka chief minister Basvaraj Bommai on Tuesday launched the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) in engineering colleges which the former referred to as big reform in technical education in the state.

Karnataka chief minister Basvaraj Bommai on Tuesday launched the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) in engineering colleges which the former referred to as big reform in technical education in the state. (PTI)

Bommai said that internet technology has broken all shackles and multidisciplinary learning is the need of the hour.

“The new NEP-2020 policy to incorporate it in engineering education, curriculum on par to make Karnataka a destination for technical education, four-year BSc honours and engineering education in Kannada medium. Such a big reform has never happened in Karnataka’s technical education,” Bommai said on Tuesday.

The ‘Destination Karnataka for Technical Education’ initiative has been done with the aim to produce a better quality of talent pool in the state, the government said.

Karnataka has been speeding up the implementation of NEP despite opposition from various quarters over the contentious policy mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) union government.

Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka’s minister for higher education minister said the curriculum of BE and B.Sc. honours has been designed on par with IIT and IISc respectively along the lines of NEP.

“Now, 66 engineering colleges have been given approval to commence B.Sc. honours course. As a mark of India completing 75 years of Independence, the government aims to start B.Sc. honours in 75 colleges,” the minister said.

Narayan said that the campaign, “Destination Karnataka” for Technical Education, 4 years B.Sc. honours programme in engineering colleges and teaching-learning of engineering in Kannada were also launched on Tuesday.

In August this year, the Karnataka government had launched the admission module through the Unified University & College Management System.

Narayan had at the time said that all the information regarding major subjects, minor subjects, core electives, open electives, vocational training among others will be provided in this module.

Karnataka has made no secret of its goals to be the first to implement the contentious policy among all other states in the country.

“In all 32 subject-wise and faculty-wise committees have been constituted to prepare the curriculum as per the NEP principles. For the current year, the curriculum has to be prepared for 1st year of degree courses and 1st year of post-graduation courses before the commencement of classes by the 1st week of October,” Narayan had stated on August 9.

The Karnataka government has defended the policy stating that the NEP will bring in flexibility in learning and teaching process by eliminating the rigidities and it will allow students to design their own courses based on their interest.

The government has also tried to allay fears that the NEP will further impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states. He had earlier stated that regional languages like Kannada will be strengthened by adopting this policy as the language would be mandatory.

The Karnataka government on Tuesday also said that it would ensure that there would be no power outages in the state on account of the shortage of coal.

Bommai said that he has spoken to all stakeholders, including union ministers and two additional rakes will come to Karnataka to compensate for any shortage.

“Now there is no power cut. We will ensure that there is no power cut in the coming days,” he said. The minister said that there was a shortage due to the heavy rains that led to stalling of loading rakes in states like Odisha and the situation was now sorted with rakes headed Karnataka’s way.