The new academic year may be off to a bumpy start for degree college students. Many colleges have completed, or are in the process of wrapping up, admissions for the 2021-22 academic year, but have yet to receive guidelines on the new National Education Policy (NEP). As a result, students were unable to make the most of the revised combinations. They were instructed by college managements to choose regular subject combinations in their respective streams (such as arts, science and commerce), instead of selecting multi-disciplinary courses under the NEP. Many students say they were not made aware of this option.
When contacted, principals said that students the would get a chance to re-select subjects across disciplines once the guidelines are issued. They added that they had no choice but to start the admission process on August 23, as per government orders.
C.B. Annapurnamma, principal of National College, Basavanagudi, which began its admission process on August 23, said, “Universities that colleges are affiliated to will have to issue guidelines on the NEP and how students can choose multi-disciplinary courses. After we receive these guidelines, we will have a counselling session for parents and students so that they can understand the new system and choose courses accordingly.”
K. Ramakrishna Reddy, Registrar (Evaluation), Nrupathunga University, urged students not to panic. “After the admission process is completed, we will invite students to pick an open elective. Students will be asked to submit three or four options for electives. Based on logistics, we will allot an elective to them.”
Under the new system, students will be able to opt for two subjects in their chosen stream and one elective from another stream. This is a shift from the earlier system under which colleges had a fixed combination of three subjects from only one discipline.
Almost all the students that The Hindu spoke to said they were not aware of this while completing the admission process. Dhanush G., a student admitted in a government degree college in the city, said he opted for a regular BBA stream. “I didn’t know about the multi-disciplinary choice, but I’ll probably stick to the BBA programme and not change subjects,” he said.
A student admitted into the B.Sc. programme at a government degree college in central Bengaluru said, “I have read about the NEP in the newspapers. I wanted to wait to see what electives the colleges would offer, but I was anxious and completed the admission process on Wednesday. I will be disappointed if the college does not offer economics as an elective,” she said.
B. Thimme Gowda, vice-chairman, Karnataka State Higher Education Council, said that students who have opted for regular combinations would be informed that they can pick one elective subject. “So instead of the third subject, they can opt for an elective that will be a vocational course and help them become more employable,” he said.
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K.R. Venugopal, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, said that they were waiting for the State-level subject committees to frame the syllabus. “Once these committees submit their report, we will place it before our academic council for approval and then issue guidelines to colleges in the second week of September. We are racing against time to make things happen this academic year,” he said.
