AIFUCTO Policy on Higher Education -
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1. Development in future is linked up with acquisition,
production and dissemination of knowledge. Equitable distribution
of the benefits of “knowledge revolution” is premised on
universalization of both primary and secondary education and making
provision for qualitative higher education to all young men who have the
aptitude and competence for higher learning.
2.The
formal acceptance of the ideology and practices of globalization by the
Indian Government in the nineties led to the progressive withdrawal of
public funds from higher education on the one hand and privatization and
commercialization of higher education on the other and consequent
marginalization of the masses from the sphere of higher education .
3. The new policy is
being justified by pitting primary and secondary education against
higher education which shows an inadequate understanding of the synergic
relationship among various levels of education
4. The lessons from
global scenario and hard Indian realities dictate that a sustainable
agenda for higher education should indisputably be inclusive of equity
and excellence.
5. The neo-liberal
mythology of the shortage of resources actually amounts to an
unwillingness of the State to ensure that the rich foot their rightful
share in taxes and the willingness of the State to come to terms with
the neo-liberal practices.
6. The challenge in
privately provided higher education is to harness the benefits of a
larger educational system while restraining the profiteering of private
players. Regulation in the field of private higher education should
include measures to ensure equity and excellence
7. India should refuse
to join the GATS regime, which is intended to facilitate
commercialization of education.
8. The drawback of the
existing UGC and centrally sponsored funding schemes is that they tend
to overlook institutional autonomy in designing and implementing
projects. We should be able to devise a system of institutional autonomy
that is compatible with social accountability.
9.UNESCO.Report
“Learning: The Treasure Within” has identified the four pillars of
learning namely, learning to know,
learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be ,which could form the bedrock of all pedagogic reforms.
10. Universities and
other institutions of higher learning are called upon to perform three
key functions; viz, (1) Teaching
(2) Research
(3) Extension
11. While specialization
is inevitable in higher education and every one cannot be expected to
excel in all three fields, the attempt should be to combine all three
roles, perhaps at different periods in the career of both students and
teachers.
12. Higher education
institutions have a responsibility to create “organic intellectuals”
and to enable the learner to earn a decent living, either through wage
employment or self-employment.
13. This implies that we
have to design a curriculum that will inculcate critical and creative
competencies and practical abilities among our young men and women.
14. While attempts
should be made to ensure maximum possible diversification in content,
delivery modes and evaluation methods, there should be a certain amount
of uniformity in the structure of the courses to ensure comparability of
programmes offered in more than 17000 institutions of higher education
across the country
15. The goal of democratization of human welfare through
democratization of higher
knowledge can be realized by democratizing the governance
structures of educational institutions and making them internally
autonomous and socially accountable.
16. The democratic transformation of the system of higher
education to counter the debilitating impact of globalization cannot be
ensured unless the rights and responsibilities of higher education
teaching personnel are properly defined and acted upon. AIFUCTO stands by the resolution of the
General Conference of the UNESCO held in Paris in 1997in this regard.
Prof. Thomas Joseph Dr.
V.K. Tewari
President
General Secretary