By IANS
New Delhi : All higher educational institutions in the capital city will be interlinked and there will be a regular exchange of the faculty and curricula among them to make Delhi as the “knowledge capital” of South Asia, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Monday.
The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) headed by Sam Pitroda has prepared the blueprint of a plan to link these institutions.
“Delhi is on its way to become the knowledge capital. All higher education institutions would be interlinked,” Dikshit said after a meeting with Pitroda.
She reiterated her commitment to make Delhi the “best knowledge destination for all”.
“All possible measures would be taken to implement recommendations of the NKC.”
The University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jamia Milia Islamia, Jamia Hamdard University, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi) and other capital-based educational institutions would be interlinked.
“It is imminent to develop the interconnection between these institutes to facilitate instant and free flow of knowledge. The blueprint includes a large number of initiatives relating to school education, vocational education and training, higher education, professional education, libraries, development of translation as an industry, English language teaching, national network, e-governance, health information network, traditional health systems and eco system for entrepreneurship,” Dikshit elaborated.
She said that implementation of initiatives envisaged in the blueprint would make “learning outcome evaluation an integral part of accountability, enhance community participation in the management of government schools and forge partnership with NGOs and civil societies for overcoming (the trend of) dropouts”.
There is also a plan for the introduction of vocational education courses at the high school level apart from facilitating convergence of the open and distance education system with conventional universities.
The initiatives would also go a long way in introducing English in schools, along with the first language starting from Class I.
“Steps would be taken to establish independent and multiple accreditation agencies for all professional institutions and modernisation of all public libraries through greater community participation and interlinking.
“All school teachers would be trained in English regardless of subject expertise through vacation training programmes and other short term courses,” the chief minister said.
Interlinking of educational hubs and provision of local area network in individual institutions would take Delhi into an era of learning at doorsteps, she explained.
The NKC was set up in 2005 as an advisory body to the prime minister to provide a blueprint for reform of our knowledge related institutions and infrastructure.