HRD Minister address institutions across the Country through NAAC Webinar

The Human Resource Development(HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has said in the recent meeting that the University Grants Commission(UGC) is preparing the list of 100 universities which will be offering online degree courses as announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in her recent proceedings.

The minister discussing the challenges faced during this critical time of nationwide lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19, has asked the National Assessment and Accreditation Council(NAAC) to work on the procedures to accredit online degree courses to be launched soon.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has recently announced that 100 universities will be allowed to provide online degree courses from May 30, 2020 as an active part of Government of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.

Education minister has asked the universities to get themselves registered to NAAC for the improved and updated education system for the students.

Post COVID-19 Impact:

Education Minister said that UGC has came up with a task force to carry out the academic activities after the coronavirus lockdown situation and has mentioned that the areas that does not improve after the commencement of new session from July, the students of the first year will be promoted based on their internal marks whereas final year exams will take place depending the situation.

Regarding the vacant teaching positions Pokhriyal has said that the process of filling 12,000 positions has been set in motion in both Central and State Universities and Institutes. 

The delay in this process was due to some legal issues, but now universities have advertised to fill about 30,000 posts.

New National Education Policy

The Education Minister during the webinar said that the draft of the New Education Policy is ready and it will be India centric. 

He assured that the students can reach out to UGC if they face any difficulties regarding the policy or they can also raise their queries to the Ministry.

Today's webinar was the fourth webinar held by the Education Minister through NAAC portal which consisted of the vice-chancellors, registrars, professors, principals and teachers from across the country.

Earlier the HRD minister had held an online session with the parents and students on April 29 and later on May 5.

During his second webinar, he announced that the JEE Mains 2020 exams will be conducted from July 18 to 23 and NEET-UG Exam 2020 has been scheduled to be held on July 26, 2020.

The HRD Ministry on 14 May has also conducted a webinar with the teachers to understand their challenges and concerns regarding the current situation.