Can’t teach value-added courses: Art College
The Government College of Art, Sector 10, has told Panjab University that it is finding it difficult to introduce the Health and Wellness/Understanding Human Rights (1st semester) and Yoga/Philosophical Thoughts of Dr BR Ambedkar (2nd semester) in their Bachelor of Fine Arts and Diploma in Fine Arts for Divyang.
Students need to choose one value-added course in a semester and it carries two credits. In the letter written by the college principal and addressed to the Dean, University Instructions, PU, the university has been asked to take steps to provide teachers required for the two courses. The PU has also been “requested to clarify the eligibility criteria and qualifications required for the positions of aforementioned subject teachers.”
However, the Dean, University Instructions, Prof Rumina Sethi, has stated that no specialist is required to teach a value-added course. “The rationale behind introducing value-added courses in the NEP 2020 is to include such subjects that are not part of the core syllabus. The aim of the NEP is to bring within the ambit of education even those disciplines which are customarily left out, such as yoga or health and wellness, environment science etc.
“Every institution, however technical, should realise this to fulfil the true intent behind the NEP. First, one does not need specialists to teach value-added courses because these are not core subjects; and second, guest faculty can always be employed for this 2 credit course (per semester). Primarily, we should be concerned about the welfare of our students. All other problems can be surmounted.”
Moreover, the college already has a Health Education subject introduced in 2007, which was being taught by a faculty member. According to PU officials, the same teacher can teach the health and wellness paper introduced under the NEP-2020.
“The college had approached PU sometime ago with the same issue and it was conveyed that no specialist teacher was required for these value-added courses,” said a university official.
