Allowing students to work part-time (20 hours per week) while studying to help them earn and enhance employability under the ‘Earn-While-Learn’ scheme, making higher education institutions more inclusive and people-friendly has been proposed as a key intervention to help make Socio-economically disadvantaged groups, including SCs, STs, OBCs, religious and linguistic minorities, have been included in the draft guidelines prepared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to allow a level playing field for these sections.
Higher education regulator UGC on Wednesday placed in the public domain the draft titled Guidelines for Equal Opportunity for Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) in HEIs to invite feedback from stakeholders.
The proposed guidelines come at a time when suicides of students in higher education institutions including IITs, Central Universities, IIMs and NITs have triggered a national debate on the mental well-being of students. Last month, the Lok Sabha was informed that nearly half of the students who ended their lives in the last five years belonged to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class communities.
The draft also proposes that institutions should provide relevant bridge and orientation courses to new entrants as well as professional and psychological counseling to these students who may be required to overcome language barriers or find a smooth transition into hardcore engineering and other professional courses. Help with the transition may be needed. “Counselors must ensure the physical, psychological and emotional well-being of students,” it says.
The scheme is designed in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which seeks to identify SEDGs on the basis of gender identity (especially women and transgender persons), socio-cultural identity (eg SC, ST, OBC and minorities), geographical identity (eg students from villages, small towns) classified broadly. , and aspirational districts), disabilities (including learning disabilities), and socio-economic conditions.
According to the draft, the ‘Earn-While-Learn (EWL)’ scheme is a means to help SEDG students acquire skills and abilities and support their education that will enhance their employability. It will also help in reducing the dropout rate among the students.
Dropout was an important agenda of discussion during the IIT Council (the apex body of all 23 IITs) meeting held in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The Council is headed by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Under this scheme, part-time engagement opportunities will be provided to needy students. The draft document reads, “An indicative list of such opportunities may include working on research projects with an assistant, library work, computer services, data entry, laboratory assistants, etc.”
It further states that the rate of remuneration for each student shall be a consolidated amount on an hourly basis for the part-time service rendered by him, subject to a maximum of 20 hours per week, 20 days per month. Payment can be made on actual basis. Student services will be provided after class time.
“It seeks to reduce the economic hardships of learning and enhance the adaptability of the learner. It provides opportunities to the students to develop their personality, acquire technical skills and build their entrepreneurial potential, which will enable them to Will help in taking up professional assignments relatively quickly.”
The draft also mentions that the effective implementation of the scheme will further reduce the burden of education expenses on the parents of the students.
As per the guidelines, the institutes have to ensure flexibility to the students to acquire the knowledge and skills required to earn a living. Also, they have to identify the types of work on campus that can be done by the students in part-time mode.
“The entities should collaborate with governmental and non-governmental agencies to seek funding or projects to implement the plan; Provide the scheme with the criteria for evaluation as well as the weighting required for issuing a certificate to the students,” it says.
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