Government to go slow on Hridayakumari panel recommendations

Even two months after B Hridayakumari panel submitted its report to the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) with major recommendations to revamp the Choice-based Credit and Semester System (CBCSS) in degree courses in the state, government is yet to take a final decision on implementing the recommendations.

Though Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb has taken the stand in the public that the recommendations of the panel would be implemented without much delay, sources said that government may go slow in implementing the report as it does not want another mess up in the higher education sector.

“As the process of admissions to degree courses in various universities in the state for the year 2012 has already been completed, it is unlikely that a decision regarding the implementation of Hridayakumari panel report would be taken soon. Higher Education Council has submitted the report to Education Minister and it is now up to the government to decide on when to submit it for the Cabinet nod and how to implement it,” said a top official in KSHEC.

Sources further added that the government would not pressurise the universities to implement the recommendations immediately as CBCSS has already caused enough confusion in the degree level. “Instead the report would be referred to the universities for consideration and the government would vest the discretionary power of implementing the recommendations on the respective university Syndicates rather than taking a unilateral decision,” sources said.

Meanwhile, Education Department officials said that though the panel had submitted the report to the KSHEC on July 11, the report was officially handed over to the Education Minister only couple of days ago.

“We have not yet received the copy of the report and the decision on implementing the recommendations will be taken only after a detailed study,” said, K M Abraham, Principal Secretary, Department of Higher Education.

B Hridayakumari Committee was constituted by Kerala State Higher Education Council to revamp the CBCSS in colleges. The panel report had recommended overhaul of examination system, grading, internal assessments and valuation while sticking to the CBCSS.