Higher Education Department wants HoDs to prepare students for placement; activists cry foul

The Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department has decided to task Heads of Departments (HoDs) of higher education institutions with the primary responsibility of preparing students for employment. Education activists, in response, have demanded a roll back stating that HoDs, who are subject experts, cannot be expected to perform the duties of placement officers.

The Department’s decision was communicated to the Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Director of Technical Education, and Registrars of all universities through a letter on Friday. The letter stated that the HoDs are required to tie up with about three to five private business houses relevant to their industry and formalise the association through signing of memoranda of understanding “to facilitate periodic interactions, feedback on curriculum, industry-related tasks and mini projects that familiarise students with industry practices”.

Basic sciences and Commerce departments, too will have to take part in the exercise, the letter read. The Department has prepared a list of 173 skills relevant to the subjects taught in Arts and Science colleges. For example, in Languages and Social Sciences such as History and Political Science, generic skills like digital marketing could be considered.

The HoDs have been instructed to identify two-three verticals of skill training, each consisting of six skills. The institutions have been instructed to approach Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) for training, support and other requirements.

A list of five placement coordinators from each institution should be submitted to TANSCHE by November 16, the letter directed. This directive has met with strong criticism from education activists who claim that the Tamil Nadu government was implementing various components of the National Education Policy 2020 one by one.

The State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), in a statement on Saturday, said that the NEP2020, in its background, stated that it aims to fulfil objectives from the 1986/1992 Education Policy that weren’t implemented.

The 1986/1992 Education Policy had provisions to “commercialise education and transform higher education institutions into centres focussed solely on vocational training and employment”, it added. “Can a professor or the head of a department in a college or a university perform the duties of a placement officer,” the statement, signed by P.B.

Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, SPCSS-TN, asks. “It is the duty of professors and Heads of Department in colleges and universities to guide research, oversee academic processes—ranging from curriculum design to assessment—and manage the administrative tasks associated with these academic functions,” the statement read.

Through this order, the Department had delegated the responsibility of curriculum development to administrative officials, while tasking heads of departments in colleges and universities with duties that should rightfully be performed by placement officers, the statement added.

Putting forth similar arguments, S. Suresh, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association, said that with over 7,000 vacancies in government Arts and Science colleges and several departments having no faculty members at all, the government should prioritise recruitment of permanent faculty.