NEP 2016: CII wish list

Dr. Naushad Forbes is president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and co-chairman of Forbes Marshall Pvt. Ltd. 1. Every college and university should be autonomous — it must swim or sink on its own. 2. Higher ed institutions must determine their curriculums, admission, fees and faculty recruitment. 3. Colleges and universities must compete for the best students, faculty and for grants and funding. 4. Government funding must be liberal but should support autonomy and competition. 5. Over the next ten years, the proportion of national R&D conducted in our higher education system must rise from 4 percent (the lowest of any major economy) to the world average of 17 percent. 6. Universities should have equal number of researchers and teachers. They must compete for research grants. 7. Stop over-subsidising higher education. Why should JNU students fees cover only 3 percent of the university’s annual budget? 8. Student loans (backed by government guarantee) to all who need them. 9. Central and state governments must stop setting tuition fees. This will end the capitation fees system. 10. The state should encourage learning assessment bodies, public and private, to evaluate and rank colleges and universities. 11. Between government and the private sector, NEP 2016 should ensure the creation of a few world-class universities. Dr. Parth Shah’s prescription Dr. Parth J. Shah is founder-president of the Centre for Civil Society, Delhi. 1. Separate governments role as regulator, financier and provider of education. 2. Use tools of per-student funding such as vouchers, direct cash transfers, and scholarships to improve efficiency and accountability of public spending and provide more choice to parents. 3. Institute learning outcomes-based school recognition and regulation of government and private schools. 4. Conduct National Achievement Survey (NAS) every year for both government and private schools. 5. Participate in all future rounds of PISA and TIMSS. 6. Make district the basic unit of education governance and revise roles of education officers to reorient school inspection. 7. Create centralised district and state-level MIS (management information systems) for better governance, and place in public domain in formats that parents can understand and use. 8. Establish independent education disputes resolution tribunals with robust online grievance redressal systems. 9. Provide unique ID to all students, teachers and principals and maintain online portfolios of their work, training and performance. 10. Allow innovations in education delivery mechanisms through blended learning, MOOCs and magnet schools for gifted and challenged students. Encourage charter and PPP schools. 11. Amend the Companies Act for registration of schools as companies with for-profit and not-for-profit options. Nishith Desai’s wish list Nishith Desai is founder and managing partner of Nishith Desai Associates, a Mumbai-based transnational legal and tax counseling firm. 1. NEP 2016 should be results oriented. Clear action plan and timelines should be set out to achieve the objectives of NEP 2016. 2. Little importance is being given to quality of education delivered. NEP 2016 should also focus on attracting talented teachers who are given constant training. 3. Uniformity in the regulatory framework…