नवीनतम
Academicians reject UGC's new curriculum
BENGALURU [Maha Media]: A group of leading educationists from across Karnataka and other states came together in Bengaluru to voice their concern over the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) draft Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF).
The round table discussion, organised by the Karnataka chapter of All India Save Education Committee (AISEC), took place at the Forum of Former Vice-Chancellors of Karnataka Hall. Faculty members, students and scholars from several institutions attended the meeting.
Presiding over the discussion, Prof A Murigeppa, former Vice-Chancellor of Hampi Kannada University, questioned the rationale behind including elements such as shlokas, panchangas, and vastu in a modern curriculum. “In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), our education system must remain objective and forward-looking. Curriculums should never become tools for political influence.”
V N Rajashekhar, vice-president of AISEC, Karnataka, who moderated the meet, emphasised that the UGC had overstepped its role. “Formulating the curriculum is the prerogative of individual universities, not the UGC. By imposing a single framework across the country, the UGC has infringed upon university's autonomy. The LOCF, in its current form, promotes an unscientific mindset and could drag our education system centuries backward.”
Several academicians spoke critically about the academic quality and scientific basis of the LOCF. Prof R Ramanujam, a mathematician and professor at Azim Premji University, described the curriculum as “outdated and unscientific,” adding that “it must be rejected in its entirety.”
Prof Soumitro Banerjee, former director of IISER, Kolkata and recipient of the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award, said the framework neglects fundamental subjects. “No student can become a mathematician through this LOCF. It ignores the basics—algebra, geometry, arithmetic—and fills the syllabus with irrelevant topics in the name of the Indian knowledge system. So-called ‘Vedic mathematics’ neither belongs to the Vedic era nor represents mathematics. While we should celebrate our historical contributions, we cannot prepare students for today’s challenges using outdated ideas,” Banerjee said.
Manjunath Krishnapur, mathematics professor at IISc, questioned the credibility of the draft itself. “It looks like this document was generated by ChatGPT. Many references don’t even exist. More than a thousand mathematicians have signed a petition demanding withdrawal of the LOCF in mathematics and calling for an autonomous committee of experts to create a new framework.”
He pointed out that some topics proposed in the draft, such as “Philosophy of Indian Mathematics” and “Kalaganana,” have no mathematical relevance. “Subjects like Panchanga breed unscientific thinking and lack the basic foundations of mathematics,” he added.
