Dimapur: The first North East Conclave on NEP 2020 began at Naga United village in Nagaland’s Chumoukedima district, with four education ministers and an adviser to school education from the region sharing the challenges and their experiences in implementing the policy on the first day on Friday.
The two-day conclave is being organised by the Nagaland higher education department in collaboration with the Union education ministry.
Policymakers, educators and academicians from across the Northeast are in attendance to deliberate on the implementation of the new education policy’s vision, challenges and opportunities for the northeastern states, reflecting the shared concerns of states in the region as they work toward translating the policy into ground-level action.
In his address, Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu called for imparting skills to students while stressing innovation and research.
Sharing his experience as the education minister, Pegu observed that the school education system is focused on or around JEE and NEET examinations, with only 2.6% of the students in Assam opting for professional courses and only around 1% of students going for civil service or other competitive examinations.
“My question is what happens to the rest, almost 97%? Where do they go? They go to general education, to the general colleges. And what is their future?” he asked.
Pegu said that while the NEP talks about employability, how to become an employable youth remained a question. He said the biggest challenge for the universities and the boards is to design the curriculum to make the youth skilled.
“We have to shift from routine learning to meaningful, holistic learning which can enhance our employability,” he added.
Nagaland higher education minister Temjen Imna Along, who is the host of the conference, said the conclave presents an opportunity to resonate with and amplify the NEP across the region.
Expressing gratitude to delegates who joined the conclave from various parts of the Northeast, Along said the gathering reflected a shared commitment to converge on a common agenda around what he described as a transformative policy.
Along stressed that positive and critical thinking should be encouraged as part of the discourse, hoping that the conclave would culminate in a resolution that is both comprehensive and strikingly clear.
Improving the quality of higher education was identified as another priority area, encompassing better teacher training, stronger assessment standards and a greater emphasis on research and innovation.
The policy’s push for decentralised governance was also outlined, requiring the devolution of authority to state governments and institutions along with new coordination mechanisms among stakeholders.
In his keynote address, Nagaland University VC Jagadish K Patnaik called for contextual and inclusive educational transformation in the Northeast in line with the NEP.
Patnaik noted that funding remains a major concern, as the policy envisages substantially increased investment while the mechanism for mobilising resources remains unclear.
He emphasised that the way forward lies in moving from policy adoption to contextual implementation and strengthening collaboration among all the states of the Northeast.
Mizoram education minister Vanlalthlana called for additional staffing under DIET and SCERTs.
“We need to have a separate fund for deputation and contractual system with which we can have more teachers, especially for DIETs being centres of excellence,” he stated.
He said withholding money from an institution because it is understaffed is a remedy that deepens the disease.
Tripura higher education minister Kishor Barman said making a policy is one thing, but taking that policy to the classroom is the real work.
Barman called for good infrastructure, trained teachers, digital connectivity, more opportunities for research, partnership between industry and educational institutions, and continuous capacity building of teachers.
He added that the NEP will become successful only when the universities become centres of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, along with giving degrees.