Tuesday 16 March 2021

Maths, physics, chemistry not compulsory for engineering admissions: AICTE

 The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — the technical education regulator — has made Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) optional for students who wish to pursue technical courses like biotechnology, textile or agriculture engineering at the undergraduate level. However, PCM remains mandatory for most engineering subjects like computer science.

  • The revised regulation is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) vision that encourages flexibility in the choice of subjects.

As per the latest guidelines:

Students only need to score 45% in any three subjects from a list of 14 in order to qualify.

The universities will offer suitable bridge courses such as mathematics, physics, engineering drawing, etc for the students coming from diverse backgrounds to achieve the desired learning outcome of the programme.

About the New Education Policy:

The aim of the Policy 2020 is to create an education system which is deeply rooted in Indian ethos and can rebuild India as a global knowledge superpower, by providing high-quality education to all.

Highlights of the policy:

  • Public spending on education by states, Centre to be raised to 6% of the GDP.
  • Ministry of Human Resource Development renamed as Minister of Education.

Digital Education- related:

  • An autonomous body, the national educational technology forum, will be created for the exchange of ideas on use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning and administration.
  • Separate technology unit to develop digital education resources. The new unit will coordinate digital infrastructure, content and capacity building.

Teacher Education- related:

  • By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a four year integrated B.Ed.
  • Teachers will also be given training in online educational methods relevant to the Indian situation in order to help bridge the digital divide.

School Education- related:

  • Universalise the pre-primary education (age range of 3-6 years) by 2025.
  • Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030.
  • A new school curriculum with coding and vocational studies from class 6 will be introduced.
  • A child’s mother tongue will be used as the medium of instruction till class 5.

New Curricular and Pedagogical Structure:

The NEP proposes changing the existing 10+2 Curricular and Pedagogical Structure with 5+3+3+4 design covering the children in the age group 3-18 years. Under this —

  1. Five years of the Foundational Stage: 3 years of pre-primary school and Grades 1, 2;
  2. Three years of the Preparatory (or Latter Primary) Stage: Grades 3, 4, 5;
  3. Three years of the Middle (or Upper Primary) Stage: Grades 6, 7, 8;
  4. Four years of the High (or Secondary) Stage: Grades 9, 10, 11, 12.

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