Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. In a major policy development, Indian Government on Wednesday announced that there will be only one regulating body for higher education in the country instead of UGC, AICTE and NCTE. It will be called Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) and its bill will soon be presented in Parliament. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said that this bill will replace the University Grant Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and will act as a single regulating board. This will not apply to law and medical colleges. Dharmendra Pradhan said that HECI will work to maintain regulation, accreditation and professional standards. At the same time, the fourth vertical i.e. funding will not be included in it. Its responsibility will remain with the administrative ministry only.
Draft ready in 2018
The Education Minister said that the draft of this bill had been prepared in 2018 itself. It was also released in the public domain to enable higher education stakeholders to provide their inputs. At the same time, the initiative was taken to introduce it in 2021. After this, this bill can now be presented in the winter session of Parliament. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the board exams for class 10th and 12th will be held twice a year, but it will not be necessary for the students to appear for the exam both the times. He told that the students themselves will decide whether they have to give the board exam once or twice.
Let's take a look at how things are working in the country so far. At present, UGC recognizes universities in the country and releases necessary funds to them. It works under the Higher Education Ministry to set and maintain the standards of education of universities. Its headquarters is in Delhi. Furthermore, AICTE is the National Council of Technical Education in the country. Its main function is to accredit schools and colleges imparting diploma, graduation and post graduation education and technical education like engineering and technology courses. Whereas NCTE works to provide training to teachers. Under this, standards for higher education are prepared.
