Correspondent
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 21
PARLIAMENTARY Secretary for Higher Education Deo Nukhu has urged all heads of educational institutions in the state to receive early accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NACC).
The legislator has made an appeal to all the principals of colleges to go for ‘early assessment’ and accreditation from the NACC as per the policy of Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission. He was speaking during a workshop on quality assurance and accreditation held on October 21 in the Capital Convention Centre in Kohima town.Nukhu spelled out the benefits of accreditation which include enabling institutions “for knowing its strength, weaknesses and opportunities, availability of reliable data relating to compliance with quality parameters, fostering innovation and adoption of best practices and encouraging intra-and inter-institutional interactions.”
He said colleges may lose the benefits of UGC grants for college development if the requirements for assessment and accreditation are not taken in time. He explained that accreditation, of colleges and universities, is practiced not only in India but in all advanced countries with the main objective of ensuring quality in higher education. To those colleges who are yet to be assessed and accredited, Nukhu advised them to get in touch with the NAAC office to enable them to sent a team “to know the grade point of the college at the earliest.” He congratulated Kohima Science College and Patkai Christian College for obtaining ‘A’ grade out of 8 colleges’ accredited so far.
The legislator was also optimistic that once the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is introduced, higher education in Nagaland would advance at a faster pace. “One of the main goal of RUSA is to achieve higher level of General Enrolment Ratio and this is to enhance the existing capacities so that they become dynamic, demand-driven, quality conscious, efficient and forward looking in response to rapid economic and technological developments”, he explained.
Informing that 306 universities and 8500 colleges would be covered under RUSA within the next 5 years for which Nagaland is not exceptional, Nukhu said all colleges and universities must have 12 (b) and 2 (f) complaint certification to be eligible to derive the benefits of RUSA.
Terming both government and private colleges as equally important, Nukhu appealed to the gathering of principals, vice principals and coordinators of secular to build up better coordination and better team to ensure quality education in Nagaland.
He also released the second edition on the NAAC assessment and accreditation related issues and quality and excellence in higher education.
Pro-Vice Chancellor of Nagaland University Prof. Lanunungsang who was the guest of honor observed that revolution in education should to start from the grass root level to bring change in the field of education. He sought the cooperation of the gathering of academicians and intelligentsia to join hands in order to revolutionize quality education and to bring super excellence in the field of education.
Delivering the keynote address EC member of NAAC Prof. AP Padhi who was the main resource person reminded them on where they were lacking and also how to reach the level of excellence desired. Narrating his interaction with the students of St. Joseph College in Jakhama Prof. Padhi observed that Naga students have ‘enough potentialities’ hidden in them. He suggested a syllabus for the institutions beyond teaching and learning.
The professor also suggested identifying the needs of the students in the global and local contexts to make the educational institutions more student-centric. Stating that economic development depends on the quality of the citizen, he said that the quality of the citizen in turn also depend on the quality of teachers. Prof. Padhi called for a change of mindset among the teaching community. Emphasizing the importance of excellence, he said excellence would take one to a commanding height and raising the level of motivation further from ‘inspiration and aspiration.’
“So far teachers are doing whatever is required but if Nagaland has to reach the global level we have to give total commitment and total involvement to promote quality education in the respective institutions by following the guidelines”, he said. He called upon the gathering of teaching community to continuously fan their fire of aspiration to keep it fully glazing. “Neglecting it will bring only ashes” he said.
Further Prof. Padhi termed promotion of team culture in teachers’ community as the most important for acquiring quality education in universities and institutions in the State. He also emphasized on cognitive skills which encompasses both scholastic and co-scholastic areas of students learning and viewed teaching as a complex skill and teaching skill as a set of teachers behavior which are effective in bringing about desirable changes in the student behavior.
