Kerala’s FYUGP curriculum is student-centric, says Higher Education Minister R. Bindu

The curriculum framework for the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUGP) in Kerala is a student-centric one, Higher Education Minister R. Bindu has said.

She was inaugurating ‘Vijnanolsavam’, a State-level event marking the first day of the academic year for undergraduate students in all universities, at the Government Arts and Science College, Kozhikode, on Tuesday. The FYUGP was launched in Kerala’s colleges on July 1, 2024.

Ms. Bindu said the framework was prepared keeping in mind the need to change the character of students from passive recipients, who accept one-sided monologues of teachers, to active producers of knowledge.

“Offering flexibility and freedom to students while selecting courses was our priority while designing the FYUGP. They should be allowed to choose courses that suit their tastes and left to freely pursue those subjects. Teachers should confine themselves to guiding them in this journey,” she pointed out.

The Minister said that under the FYUGP, the students were getting the opportunity to follow courses of their choice outside their colleges and even outside the universities.

“After a year, if they feel that the selected course was of no interest to them, there is a provision to change it. They can exit the course after completing three years and scoring 133 credit points, and get a degree certificate. Only those who wish to go for research-oriented studies and gain practical knowledge can continue the course and get a honours degree after completing the fourth year. The extremely talented students also have the option to complete the course even after two-and-a-half semesters, if they have scored the mandatory credit points,” Ms. Bindu said.

She said that the present generation of students born after the Internet revolution were found to have sharp analytical skills and grasping power.

“They should be made capable of addressing the challenges of the modern era and create new frontiers of knowledge. The college campuses should be able to help the students develop their creative skills. The teaching process, earlier known as pedagogy, is now referred to as andragogy, or the teaching of adult learners. In an era in which the boundaries of disciplinary categorisations are becoming irrelevant, the students should make use of the various sources to access knowledge,” she added.