Rejuvenating College Education in Kashmir

Three days back in the past, I had an opportunity of getting the feedback on diverse issues from my students, thanks to the sore throat ensuring I couldn’t speak in the class that day. Our students seldom get opportunities to open up but when they do get them, they surprise you with the ideas which one can normally never conceive. They talked on diverse issues, assessed the problems and proposed the plausible solutions. This article is more of a reflection of their thoughts than my own opinion, though punctuated with little inputs from my side.
On the newly introduced CBCS:
Tagged as a choice based system, this has done more harm to the system. In a state which is often hit by shutdowns and bandhs, this system fails miserably. Maintaining compatibility between core papers and the elective papers is cumbersome. With less choice in newly established institutions, the candidates are often compelled to choose the subjects based on the availability, not on their own choice. For instance, college A does offer a BA course but only two of the available subjects resonate with the choice of the student, the third one being forced. CBCS is no doubt a student friendly idea but its efficacy in our state is still debatable.
Introduction of research in colleges:
Research in colleges is fair until it targets the students. The recent order of higher education department allowing college teachers to act as the research guides of teachers has its own cons. It will put more pressure on the already faculty-hungry system. Colleges are meant for college students and ethics doesn’t allow enriching the teachers at the expense of comfiture of students. The move will hamper regular class-work with more and more college teachers taking on their own projects in the college in a race to finishing them off soon. The conflict of interest will kill their conscience and more pressure will have to be borne by the adhoc faculty introducing a class struggle within the institutions.
Research in colleges isn’t a bad idea until its target is the students. The students can be given mini projects so that they can get into the field of enquiry and uncomfortable questioning early on in their lives. This will ensure they are suitably exposed to research methodology early on and they won’t have to search for sycophants which allow pay and publish later during their M.Phil. and Ph. D. Incentivising the projects may do wonders.
What our education system has been unable to recognise so far is that its possible to integrate teaching with research considering both are mutually inclusive and for the effective delivery of one, another is required.
On the class size and faculty:
The ideal class size for any institution is 35, at the most 45. Our classes range from 50-150. How could a teacher ensure giving individual attention to each one in such a situation? The problem is the unavailability of sizeable faculty – the diminishing teacher-student ratio.
On the lack of career guidance and placements:
India is one of the biggest victims of suicidal cases (within age range of 15-29). The cause is that majority of our students who complete their graduation are unable to fetch a job or to make it to the university for higher studies. Career guidance sessions are seldom held at our colleges. India’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) in colleges is just about 19 %, meaning only 19 out of 100 teens make a choice to go to college. It’s purely because they students are apprehensive of job opportunities after finishing the college.
On the communication skills and other skills:
No doubt the colleges hold debates, seminars, send students for inter college events and so on but the irony is that it’s based on choose and send. The idea should be the all-inclusion with every student getting the chance of expressing herself. The idea should be to ensure exposing everyone of the students and not limiting it to those students who are already good at communication skills.
(The writer is (Assistant Professor, Higher Education Department. E-mail: aarifqaadir@gmail.com)