The higher education sector is likely to become a key beneficiary of the upcoming State Budget. Besides earmarking a significant portion of allocation for infrastructure development, the government has set its sights on ushering in reforms before heading for the Assembly elections.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had succeeded in realising some of its ambitious goals such as setting up the State Assessment and Accreditation Centre (SAAC) and the Sree Narayana Guru Open University, both of which have been in the pipeline for long.
Sources say the government may give shape to more projects during the fag end of its rule. “There will be a greater focus on enhancing facilities and reforms to boost research in higher education institutions. Interventions are also likely to plug inadequacies in online learning,” a source said.
KSHEC proposals
The Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) has submitted proposals, including steps to institutionalise use of multimedia tools for online teaching. A ‘centre for transformative educational technology’ has been mooted to address the needs of technology-enhanced teaching and learning.
According to council vice chairman Rajan Gurukkal P.M., higher education has been undergoing transformative change through techno-padagogy based on technologies of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. “Teachers require workshops and hands-on training in multimedia tools, considering online teaching without its sophisticated multimedia digital content is a tedious job for teachers and a burden for students,” he says.
Special programme
The KSHEC has also called for introducing a special programme for cross-disciplinary teaching. The proposed programme aims to impart cross-disciplinary literacy among teachers to adapt themselves to emerging fields of knowledge in which disciplines converge.
