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Rh 8.11. Finally, the children and adolescents enrolled in schools must not be forgotten in this whole process; after all, the school system is designed for them. Careful attention must be paid to their safety and rights—particularly girl children—and the various difficult issues faced by adolescents, such as substance or drug abuse and forms of discrimination and harassment including violence, with clear, safe, and efficient mechanisms for reporting and for due process on any infractions against children’s/adolescents’ rights or safety. The development of such mechanisms that are effective, timely, and well-known to all students will be accorded high priority.

9. Quality Universities and Colleges: A New and Forward-looking Vision for India’s Higher Education System

9.1. Higher education plays an extremely important role in promoting human as well as societal well-being and in developing India as envisioned in its Constitution—a democratic, just, socially-conscious, cultured, and humane nation upholding liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice for all. Higher education significantly contributes towards sustainable livelihoods and economic development of the nation. As India moves towards becoming a knowledge economy and society, more and more young Indians are likely to aspire for higher education.

9.1.1. Given the 21st century requirements, quality higher education must aim to develop good, thoughtful, well-rounded, and creative individuals. It must enable an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethical and Constitutional values, intellectual curiosity, scientific temper, creativity, spirit of service, and 21st century capabilities across a range of disciplines including sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, languages, as well as professional, technical, and vocational subjects. A quality higher education must enable personal accomplishment and enlightenment, constructive public engagement, and productive contribution to the society. It must prepare students for more meaningful and satisfying lives and work roles and enable economic independence.

9.1.2. For the purpose of developing holistic individuals, it is essential that an identified set of skills and values will be incorporated at each stage of learning, from pre-school to higher education.

9.1.3. At the societal level, higher education must enable the development of an enlightened, socially conscioussocially-conscious [sic], knowledgeable, and skilled nation that can find and implement robust solutions to its own problems. Higher education must form the basis for knowledge creation and innovation thereby contributing to a growing national economy. The purpose of quality higher education is, therefore, more than the creation of greater opportunities for individual employment. It represents the key to more vibrant, socially engaged, cooperative communities and a happier, cohesive, cultured, productive, innovative, progressive, and prosperous nation.

9.2. Some of the major problems currently faced by the higher education system in India include:

1. a severely fragmented higher educational ecosystem;

2. less emphasis on the development of cognitive skills and learning outcomes;

3. a rigid separation of disciplines, with early specialisation and streaming of students into narrow areas of study;

4. limited access particularly in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, with few HEIs that teach in local languages;

5. limited teacher and institutional autonomy;

6. inadequate mechanisms for merit-based career management and progression of faculty and institutional leaders;

7. lesser emphasis on research at most universities and colleges, and lack of competitive peer-reviewed research funding across disciplines;

8. suboptimal governance and leadership of HEIs;

9. an ineffective regulatory system; and

10. large affiliating universities resulting in low standards of undergraduate education.