CHENNAI: Higher education minister K Ponmudy on Tuesday opposed the draft National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) which states that the admission to the first year undergraduate programme will be open to those who have met the entrance requirements. This framework was envisaged in the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
In a statement, the minister said the state government received an email from the Union government seeking its opinion on a draft plan of implementing NEP.
“However, the state government did not get enough time to seek the opinion of educationists and the public. We will study the draft implementation plan and convey the state government’s stand,” he said.
“The state government is continuously opposing NEP as it is against Tamil Nadu’s stand on education to all. It is not acceptable to the state government that the students aspiring to join UG programmes have to fulfil the entry requirements,” minister Ponmudy said.
“The DMK is opposing the move to introduce entrance tests for arts and science courses as it would prevent the poor students from pursuing higher education. This move needs to be stopped,” he said.
Further, the Tamil Nadu government wants to continue with the 10+2+3 pattern.
The NHEQF states that the students exiting in first year would receive certificate and those going out in the second year would get diploma, students exiting in third year would get degree and students pursuing four-year UG degree would get UG with honours/research.
“Since the exit option encourages students to drop out, the state government strongly opposes it. The four-year degree programmes extend the duration of the degree to one more year. And those students with less than 7.5 CGPA (Cumulative Grade Points Average) cannot pursue the fourth year. It is against the natural justice and Tamil Nadu’s education policy,” Ponmudy said.
The state government also opposed the new system stated in the document which mandates students to complete all papers to move on to next year.
