Does not meet intellectual standards; enforces content based on ideology: Kerala government dismisses UGC draft curriculum

A panel set up by the Kerala government, while opposing the draft curriculum issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) last month, raised concerns about the “imposition of ideologically driven content under the guise of Indian knowledge system,” as well as outdated content and infringements on academic autonomy.This week, the Kerala government announced that it had rejected the draft curriculum and had communicated this decision to the UGC, based on the panel's report submitted earlier this month. Last month, the UGC published the curriculum framework for nine subjects and requested feedback on them.

Higher Education Minister R. Bindu stated in a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and UGC Chairperson Vineet Joshi that the draft, as it currently stands, would not be implemented in the State. She voiced significant worries regarding the academic, structural, and ideological dimensions of the proposed curriculum.THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Higher Education Minister R Bindu has stated that the Kerala government will not adopt the draft Learning Outcome-Based Curriculum Framework released by the UGC in its present form. The state government has officially informed the central government and the UGC of its decision to reject the framework.An expert committee was appointed by the state government to assess the framework, and the decision to reject it was made based on the committee’s findings. The minister communicated the state's position through separate letters to Union Education Minister Dr. Dharmendra Pradhan and UGC Chairperson Vineet Joshi. The draft framework for undergraduate courses was recently published by the UGC.The minister indicated in the letters that the UGC's draft framework constitutes a serious infringement on university autonomy. The UGC's constitutional responsibilities do not include the prescribing of syllabi, course structures, and reading lists. An academic and philosophical perspective on the country’s intellectual and social contexts is missing from the document.