The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us to overcome challenges and find opportunities out of lurking threats, said B. Vengamma, Director and Vice-Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS).
She made the observation on changed acceptance levels and human attitude while addressing the valedictory session of the 31st statutory conference of All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organizations (AIFUCTO) here on January 9.
The three-day event was jointly hosted by Andhra Pradesh Government College Teachers’ Association (APGCTA), AP Government College Gazetted Teachers' Association (APGCGTA) and Affiliated College Teachers' Association (ACTA) at Sri Venkateswara University, in which 1,200 delegates from across the country took part.
The meet took up for discussion the intricacies of National Education Policy (NEP 2020) and the higher education scenario post-Covid.
Recalling her experience over the last two years in the arena of medical education, Dr. Vengamma said the academic fraternity had not given in to the challenges posed by the pandemic, but attuned itself to the ‘new normal’.
A neurologist by profession, she also recalled instances of high school and college students experiencing depression and mental trauma, burdened as they were with academic pressure. In this context, she expressed hope that the new NEP would bid goodbye to rote learning, focus more on creativity and nurture lateral thinking among the students.
The meeting elected professors Kesab Bhattacharya, Arun Kumar and D. Kumar as the President, General Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
Similarly, Binayak Bhattacharya, M. Lokendro Singh, N. Manoj, M. Nagarajan and Vijaykumar Piyush were elected the national secretaries among others.
The three-day meet demanded that the government should increase expenditure on education at least 6% of GDP, stop clustering of educational institutions, prevent dropout of students, fill up vacant posts of teachers and implement UGC regulation issued with 7th pay revision by States.
