Recast curriculum in all streams of education: AICTE chief

Curriculum is a vibrant thing. We can't sleep on the curriculum for decades. Changes happening around the world have to come into the teaching-learning process, Prof Sahasrabudhe said. 

The AICTE chairman delivered a lecture on Higher Education in India post-COVID at a virtual conference organised by the SRM University-AP. 

Stating that all engineering colleges have been mandated to go for curriculum revision, Sahasrabudhe said even arts, science and commerce streams should go for it. 

Under the New Education Policy-2020, we have also made internship mandatory for undergraduate students, project-based experiential learning besides training of faculty, which is very important. The AICTE has created an eight-module faculty certification programme that will cover the entire lifecycle of teachers, he added. 

Noting that there has been a transition from classroom to online education in the COVID era, Sahasrabudhe said somewhere the quality was slightly affected. 

We can certainly overcome that. We have to replicate and re-model the classroom-type education, he said. 

We have to, however, get out of this (COVID crisis) as soon as possible and get back to the classrooms and campuses. 

That's the need of the hour, the AICTE chief said. 

Sahasrabudhe said all things could not be done online. 

Human-to-human touch is important. A blended way of education (classroom and online) is essential, making use of the strength of technology, he said. 

Andhra Pradesh government Special Chief Secretary (Higher Education) Satish Chandra, SRM University-AP Pro-Vice-Chancellor D Narayana Rao, Vice-Chancellor V S Rao and others were present.