Nagaland University in collaboration with Higher Education Department, Government of Nagaland organized an orientation program for Dimapur Zone (Colleges under Dimapur/Chumoukedima/Peren/Niuland/Mon districts at Dimapur Govt. College on 20.04.2022 from 11.00 am onwards. The invitation to attend the program was extended to Principals of Colleges with two teachers/representatives of their respective colleges. Altogether 86 participants from 25 colleges attended the programme.
Dr. Medongoi Rhakho, Deputy Director, Department of Higher Education, who was the Co-ordinator of the programme gave a brief introduction and explained the rationale behind the orientation.
Dr. M. Libanthung Ngullie, Principal, DGC & District Higher Education Officer, Dimapur welcomed the participants and expressed his expectations for an enlightening interactive session.
Resource Person Prof. Dipak Sinha, Nodal Officer, CBCS, Nagaland University gave a presentation on the topic titled “Choice based Credit System (CBCS) incorporating NEP 2020.”
He began by outlining in brief the advantages of NEP 2020, and its focus on flexibility by introducing a more holistic and multidisciplinary form of education. Higher education in India under UGC is introducing CBCS to enable uniformity in course structure/syllabi in the whole country. With credit transfer made possible, students are given more options. After naming some countries where CBCS is offered, he explained how the UGC CBCS system functions.
He then highlighted some concerns that have to be addressed like – high total number of papers, space and classroom constraints, subject combinations, how generic papers can be offered, job oriented skill enhancement courses, value based courses, how credit transfer from SWAYAM can be done, and how some NEP requirements like soft skills/skill based courses/credit transfer/academic credit bank/project training etc, are to be included in the guidelines.
Some concrete examples on how to redress these issues were given after which he offered some suggestions on further steps to be taken. Commonly asked questions about CBCS along with their answers were also shared with the gathering.
This was followed by an interactive session where the participating colleges cleared their doubts and expressed their views.
Dr. Lily Sema, Additional Director, HTE cum Principal, Kohima Science College, Jotsoma & District Higher Education Officer, Kohima also interacted with the participants. She welcomed suggestions and combined efforts for a smooth transition to the CBCS system.
After lunch break, Dr. Lily Sema held a meeting with the Principal, Vice Principal, Curriculum Committee and HODs of the various departments of the college. The preparedness of the college for introduction of CBCS was discussed and the participants explained their institution’s/committee’s/departments’ positions, with the visiting official offering some practical inputs on how to begin the process of implementing the new system.
(A.SENTIYULA)
Nodal Officer to IQAC & Convenor, PMC
Dimapur Govt. College
Nagaland
