Vineet Joshi Panel

Vineet Joshi Panel Latest News

The Center recently constituted a panel, headed by Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, to suggest measures to reduce dependency of students on coaching centres and assess the effectiveness and fairness of competitive entrance examinations.

About Vineet Joshi Panel

• It is a nine-member panel constituted by the Union Education Ministry.
• Objective: To suggest measures to reduce the dependency of students on coaching centres and assess the effectiveness and fairness of competitive entrance examinations.
• The panel will also brainstorm on the gaps in the current schooling system that contribute to students’ reliance on coaching centres, particularly the limited focus on critical thinking, logical reasoning, analytical skills, and innovation, and “the prevalence of rote learning practices”.
• Apart from Mr. Joshi, Chairman of the CBSE, Joint Secretary (Institutions), Department of School Education and Literacy, representatives of IIT Madras, NIT Trichy, IIT Kanpur, and the NCERT, and three school principals (one each from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, and a Private School—to be nominated by the Centre) will be members in the panel. 
• A joint secretary from the Higher Education Department will be Member Secretary of the panel.
• The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the panel includes the examination of the reasons behind the emergence of “dummy schools” and their role in encouraging full-time coaching at the cost of formal schooling and suggest ways to mitigate them. 
• The panel will also “assess the role and impact of formative assessments at school and higher education levels, and how their absence affects students’ conceptual understanding and preparedness for competitive examinations”.
• The panel will analyse the rising demand for quality higher education, the limited availability of seats in premier institutions, and how this imbalance drives students towards coaching institutes. 
• It will also evaluate the awareness levels among students and parents regarding multiple career pathways and the “impact of this lack of awareness on the over-dependence on a few elite institutions”.
• Another brief of the committee is to study the effectiveness and fairness of competitive entrance examinations in the context of the school education system, and their influence on the growth of the coaching industry. 
• It will also review the advertising practices of coaching centres, including the use of misleading claims and the promotion of selective success stories, and recommend suitable mechanisms.
• The panel will assess the availability and effectiveness of career counselling services in schools and colleges and suggest measures for strengthening career guidance frameworks.

Source: TH

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