The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has asked all colleges in the Union Territory (UT) to get evaluated and accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) as soon as possible, shared officials on Friday, February 11. 

It was Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department, Rohit Kansal, who issued the instruction at a meeting which included the principals of colleges from the Jammu division, the officials said, as quoted in a report by PTI.  

To determine the academic input quality, the principal secretary directed for an audit in all colleges. He also brought up the need for revision of course or options and also modernising the syllabus, he added.  

The official shared that since the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been introduced, the push is towards quality education, curriculum flexibility and a globalised outlook, the official said. 

During the meeting, the Principal Secretary informed about the implementation of NEP from the 2022-23 academic session, and said, as quoted in PTI, “Colleges would now be encouraged to exchange knowledge and expertise globally. Innovation and incubation would be fostered in a hub-and-spoke model and expert assistance and guidance would be provided by universities and other premier institutes such as IIT Jammu and IIM Jammu.”

While good infrastructure is an important component of any institute, the main target of any higher education institute should be imparting humanistic, modern and quality education. This is what the Principal Secretary stressed in his message to the principals. He even informed principals that if regular system of pupil feedback is introduced, it will become an important component of educator evaluation. 

He asked principals to adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Learning Management Systems (LMS), gave assurance regarding the flexibility of utilisation of local funds and said that under the NEP, start-up competitions and research will be given attention.