National Knowledge Commission Report to the Nation 2009: Overview

championed by the Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE); on Teachers, championed by
the Azim Premji Foundation; and on Biodiversity,
championed by the Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
• Health Information Network: The developments
in information and communication technology
have created new opportunities for enhancing the
efficiency of health care delivery. NKC believes that
the country needs to develop a web-based network,
connecting all health care establishments, in both
private and public sectors. When fully functional, all
health care transactions will be recorded electronically
and this data will be available in the health data vault
to authorised users, when they need it and where
they need it. For this purpose a common Electronic
Health Record (EHR) based on open source solutions
needs to be created and disseminated widely.
CONCEPTS
Knowledge concepts are organised and disseminated
through the education system. Education is the key
enabler for the development of an individual and for
altering the socio-economic landscape of a country.
Therefore, NKC’s work has focused on revamping the
education sector. NKC’s concern with many aspects of
the Indian education system covers school education,
higher education, professional education, and vocational
education.
• School Education: Making access to good school
education a reality will require major expansion at the
elementary and secondary levels and improvement
in the quality of schools. NKC has therefore
proposed generational changes in the school
system which would encourage decentralisation,
local autonomy in management of schools, and
flexibility in disbursal of funds. To improve
quality and generate accountability, NKC has also
recommended improving school infrastructure and
revamping school inspection with a greater role
for local stakeholders and greater transparency in
the system. Further, wherever feasible, Information
and Communication Technology should be made
more accessible to teachers, students and the
administration. NKC has also emphasised the need
for reforms in the curriculum and examination
systems by moving away from rote learning to
a critical understanding of concepts and finally
improvement in faculty.
• Vocational education and training (VET): To
improve vocational education and training (VET),
NKC’s recommendations focus on increasing the
flexibility of VET within the mainstream education
system. NKC has also emphasised the need to
expand capacity through innovative delivery models,
including robust public private partnerships. Given
that only 7 per cent of the country’s labour force is
in the organised sector, enhancing training options
available for the unorganised and informal sector
will be critical for enhancing the productivity of
the bulk of our working population. It is necessary
to ensure a robust regulatory and accreditation
framework, along with proper certification of
vocational education and training. This will allow
easier mobility into higher education streams,
enhancing the value of such training.
• Higher Education: In higher education NKC
recommendations have focused on the three key
aspects of expansion, excellence and inclusion.
NKC has recommended increasing GER in higher
education to 15 and above by 2015. In addition
to increased public spending, this would involve
diversifying the sources of financing to encourage
private participation, philanthropic contributions
and industry linkages. To bring about this
expansion, NKC has suggested the creation of
1500 universities by 2015, partly by restructuring
the existing ones. In order to reduce the current
barriers to entry, NKC has recommended setting
up an Independent Regulatory Authority for
Higher Education (IRAHE) which would be at an
arm’s length from all stakeholders and would accord
degree granting power to universities. To ensure
quality, NKC has called for reform of existing
universities to ensure frequent curricula revisions,
introduction of course credit system, enhancing
reliance on internal assessment, encouraging
research, and reforming governance of institutions.
Further, there is an urgent need to restructure the
system of affiliated undergraduate colleges which
no longer provides a viable model for quality higher
education. NKC has also suggested creating models
for community colleges that provide credit and noncredit
courses leading to two year associate degrees.
These would include general education programs as
well as employment oriented programs, creating the
flexibility for students to pursue higher education
later in life. NKC believes that all deserving students
should have access to higher education, irrespective
of their socio-economic background. While the
14 National Knowledge Commission