The Ministry of Education has issued draft Guidelines for Equitable Opportunity to the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).
These guidelines lay down the following objectives:
- Improving equitable access to quality education for SEDGs through bridge courses, earnwhile-learn, and outreach programmes;
- Extending and ensuring basic facilities and amenities to SEDGs for inclusive, healthy, safe, and secure environments on campuses; and
- Setting up Equal Opportunity Cell for the purpose of sensitization of all stakeholders, policy implementation, monitoring, equalizing access to inclusive quality higher education, ensuring respectful dignity, promoting egalitarian and constitutional values, and grievance redressal in Higher Education Institutions in India.
The following measures are also suggested in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to achieve the objectives:
- Make admissions processes more inclusive.
- Make the curriculum more inclusive.
- Develop bridge courses for students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds.
- Ensure sensitization of faculty, counselors, and students on the gender-identity issue and its inclusion in all aspects of the HEI, including curricula.
- Strictly enforce all no-discrimination and anti-harassment rules.
- Develop a roadmap that contains specific plans for action on increasing participation from SEDGs, including but not limited to the above items.
