Editorial 1 : The NCrF as a framework for well-rounded education

Context

The National Credit Framework (NCrF) aims to help higher education institutions balance vocational and skill training and knowledge-generating academic pursuits, which are needed in a fast-changing world.

Introduction

Cognitive inconsistency and axiomatic irrationality become evident when a few put forth the view that the spirit behind and the structural reforms advocated by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are unsuitable.

About the New Education Policy

• The NEP is a vision document that provides a broad contour of how education can be transformed in India while getting away from the clutches of the colonial mindset.
• The National Credit Framework (NCrF) is one of several transformative reforms that are derived from the NEP, providing a flexible template for educational institutions offering school, higher, vocational, and skill education.
• Using the NCrF, higher education institutions (HEI) can give a unified accumulation and transfer of credits across multidisciplinary education, including skill education.
• The NCrF is an enabling framework rather than a regulatory one.

More flexibility for students 

• Flexibility for student credits: When HEIs adopt the NCrF, students can earn credits in various activities provided they undergo an assessment.
  • The NCrF gives students the flexibility to earn credits from classroom teaching, laboratory work, Atal Tinkering Laboratories, research projects, assignments, tutorials, sports and games, yoga, the performing arts, music, handicrafts, social work, National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme activities, vocational and skill education, minor and major projects, on-the-job training, internships, apprenticeships, and experiential learning.
  • Providing flexibility and broad-based educational opportunities through the NCrF has unnerved some who are deeply rooted in the conventional ways of imparting higher education. 
• Issues with the nature of NEP: The position of those few who remain bafflingly immune to the dynamic and forward-looking nature of the NEP 2020 is inherently “problematic”.
  • Their dismissive attitude towards the curriculum changes based on the NCrF shows their unwillingness to understand India’s societal, technological, and educational needs.
• Need for dynamism: This is precisely why India’s higher education system should steadfastly remain dynamic and relevant to the country’s needs to avoid the risk of becoming obsolete. 
• Ensuring flexibility: In keeping with the inevitable rapid economic and technological changes, the NCrF aims to help institutions remain flexible and competitive.
• Promoting Skilling and revising the curriculum: Keeping the current and future evolution of job requirements, there is only one solution — revise the curriculum so that it is in tune with the NCrF.
  • HEIs should demonstrate their capacity to adapt to the evolving new situations by bridging the skill mismatch so that the career prospects of students are not hindered. 

• Emphasis on training: Any view that HEIs should remain the place for the sole purpose of training students only to become knowledge producers is an outdated and obstinate refusal to see the reality.
• Emphasis on skill upgradation: In the modern world, HEIs, besides being havens of knowledge, must equip students with the skills and the competencies needed for emerging roles and self-employment.
• The path to growth: However, such a dual role is possible only when HEIs adopt the NCrF and allow students to pursue their academic and career goals. 

Continuous adaptation is the key 

• Need for reforms: we must not promote an elitist brand of higher education by not supporting reforms in higher education;
  • these reforms are necessary for the democratisation of education and social equity.
• Need to adapt and reinvent: HEIs must continuously adapt and reinvent themselves in response to changing circumstances.
  • Having a few hinder efforts in transforming higher education in HEIs can lead to a stagnation and compromise the effectiveness of our institutions. 
• Need for a multi-disciplinary approach: The NEP 2020 also advocates the multidisciplinary education and research university (MERU) concept.
• Need to focus at lower levels: The focus of such HEIs would be to serve as nurseries for scholars and intellectuals.
  • However, such universities should not be considered an end in itself, and many other HEIs should also focus on vocational and skill training to enhance the employability of students. 
• Opportunity to increase social mobility: When students acquire practical skills and knowledge through a flexible curriculum — as envisaged in the NCrF — higher education will become a tool for students to increase their social mobility.

Way Forward: On vocational and skill training 

• Focussing on skills: Depending on the nature of HEIs, institutions can lay emphasis on vocational and skill training, focus on fundamental research, innovation, and intellectual pursuits, and ensure that knowledge production and skill training coexist as deeply interconnected processes.
  • The bottomline is that those who acquire vocational and skill training can be as impactful as those who produce new knowledge.
• Achieving the balance: The primary objective of the NCrF is to help HEIs balance vocational and skill training and knowledge-generating academic pursuits so that HEIs play a pivotal role in shaping individual futures and societal progress.

Conclusion

We must reimagine our higher education curricula by integrating flexibility and multidisciplinary and skill-based courses to transform India into an economic powerhouse and technological leader. In response to the inevitable rapid economic and technological changes, the NCrF seeks to assist institutions in staying adaptable and competitive.

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Editorial 2 : It is an offence

Context

Court has done well to clarify law on online content showing child sex abuse.

Introduction

The Supreme Court of India’s clear delineation of the penal consequences of accessing or storing sexual material concerning children is in complete consonance with the letter and spirit of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The critical need for intervention towards child safety from abuse

• Enlightened Approach to Social Issues: arose from the proliferation of online content featuring sexual exploitation of children, a three-Judge Bench has not only clarified the law but also drawn pointed attention to the legislative intent of presuming the culpable mental state of a person accessing and viewing such material.
• Modifying the terminology in verdicts:  The Court has also advocated that the term ‘child pornography’ be avoided in both the law and in court verdicts, as it appears to trivialise theenormity of the offence of exploiting children to create and disseminate sexual material to gratify the perversions of a few.
  •  Instead, the Court has suggested that such content be described as ‘Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material’ (CSEAM).
• Making the legal provisions more clear: The verdict also lays to rest doubts over what exactly some provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and POCSO Act say on the subject, as High Court verdicts have differed on their exact implications.

Key details about the background of the case

• The birth of case from an earlier case: The case arose from a Madras High Court judgment that quashed a criminal case against an individual who had viewed sexual content involving children on the ground that the law only criminalised creating and disseminating such content, and not merely watching it in the private domain.
  •  The apex court has now set aside the High Court order.
• Invoking the doctrine of “constructive possession”: it has ruled that any act of viewing or displaying such material over the Internet without actual possession or storage in any device would also amount to “possession”, made punishable under Section 15 of POCSO, provided the person had a degree of control over such material.
• Acts and inclusions under scanner: Further, an intent to share or transmit such material can also be inferred from any failure to delete, destroy or report such material.
• A step of caution: against narrow interpretation of some provisions so that the legislative intent of penalising cyber-offences relating to children is not defeated.
• View of the Section 67B of the IT Act: termed it a “comprehensive provision” to penalise various electronic forms of exploitation and abuse of children online.
• Key responsibilities if platforms and intermediaries: They have a duty to remove such content as well as report it to police units concerned.
• Awareness campaigns through sex education: Its advice to the government to implement comprehensive sex education programmes that include the legal and ethical ramifications of child sex abuse material merits immediate attention.

Conclusion

Through the judgment, the Supreme Court of India has strengthened child protection against online sexual exploitation with clear connotations from the POCSO Act. Phrase like ‘Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material’ instead of child pornography shows that courts are serious towards the growing issue. Thus, it becomes a key responsibility of digital platforms to remove harmful content and making an appeal for proper sex education. Thus, it reinforces the need for society to be more organized while protecting children.