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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue
11
October 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 108
Pros and Cons of Choice Based Credit System
in India
Saroj Kumar Singh
Department of Rural Economics
S. N. S. R. K. S. College Saharsa 852201 Bihar, India
(A Constituent Unit of B. N. Mandal University, Madhepura, Bihar)
Email: drsarojkumarsingh@gmail.com.
Abstract:
The present paper aims to highlight the challenges
in implementation of CBCS. The study concentrates
whether teachers understand the new system of
assessment very well. What are the problems faced
by students and teachers to implement this system?
Is there any modification or improvisation required
on the system being adopted? The present study was
conducted to answer these. This study would be
helpful to the educational planners, teacher training
institutes and other stakeholders to understand the
system and adopt new ways of Implementing
evaluation if need arises and also would give an
overview about the system to the other universities
who are in the verge of adopting the choice based
credit system..
Keywords
Choice-Based Credit System, UGC, Education
System, Stakeholders, Challenges.
1. Introduction
The Indian government recently made Choice- based Credit System (CBCS) mandatory for all 400
public universities at the undergraduate and
postgraduate level beginning in the academic year
2015-2016. This is good news, as every student
should have the right to choose subjects of interest.
The lack of an interdisciplinary approach is one
reason why we are losing many of our brightest
students to universities abroad. This year, the
Institute for International Education estimates that
India is the No 2 country of origin for foreign
students in the US, with over 1.2 lakh students
studying there, contributing an estimated $3.3
billion. The CBCS will encourage students to learn
in an interdisciplinary manner, in which teachers
from varied disciplines design a curriculum, instruct
the class and grade teams. Students can opt for
courses of their choice, learn at their own pace, take
additional courses, and get more than the required
credits. Recently, a wave of new generation private
universities like Asoka, Shivnadar, and FLAME has
adopted the interdisciplinary approach to higher
education with success. By ensuring that all 400
public universities in India adopt international
standards, the government is encouraging standards'
parity in higher education. Introducing CBCS is
critical for India to develop employable university
graduates, a major challenge facing the country.
There is a serious gap in demand and supply of work
skills and qualifications to address long-term
unemployment.
2. Difficulties encountered with the
Traditional Higher Education
System
The traditional Higher Education system has a
non-uniform performance assessment system putting
all the pressure on the student at the end of the year.
With the semester system associated with CBCS, not
only will the curriculum be uniformly distributed, but
one can also cover 10 subjects instead of five in a
year, as the student will spend more time with the
faculty. There is a strong resistance to change from
every quarter of the academic world. Students are
compelled to take two years of language course of
their mother tongue.
They are not encouraged to take courses
according to their abilities and pace and there is no
freedom for the first year student to take an advanced
course or a third year student to take an introductory
course. Students are compelled to be inside the
classroom for the entire five hours a day schedule
leaving no scope for independent study. Why not a
student earns a few credits from one college and
transfers the credits to some other college? Why not
a student who is working on a part-time basis earns a
few credits and stretches his studies to four or five
years according to his convenience? Why is there a
kind of compulsion to complete a degree program in
three years? Why is there no provision to change the
college after earning a few credits? CBCS has the
facility to transfer the credits from one institution to
another provided there are provisions in the rules of
Page 2 of 5
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue
11
October 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 109
the autonomous colleges and the universities to
accept transfer of credits. Higher Education has
undergone quite a lot of transformation over the
years. After the Kothari Commission report in 1966,
discussions on college autonomy started, and a few
colleges became autonomous since 1978 and a few
of them have completed 25 years of such a freedom.
Academic freedom, under autonomy, helped many
colleges to innovate new curricula, design relevant
courses, frame new syllabi, and introduce new
evaluation methods. However, the required
flexibility for the students to have a greater choice of
courses appropriate to their interests, needs, and
long-term goals is not available even in autonomous
colleges; rather a rigid and compartmentalized
system is perpetuated.
3. Choice Based Credit System
Currently an important concern, which is strongly
mentioned in recent times by the UGC, the National
Assessment, and Accreditation Council, is the need
to develop a Choice- Based Credit System (CBCS) in
tune with global trends and the adoption of a proper
grading system for measuring performance of the
learner. In order to provide with some degree of
flexibility to learners, we need to provide for course
duration in terms of credit hours and also a minimum
as well as a maximum permissible span of time in
which a learner can complete a course.
Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) imminently
fits into the emerging socioeconomic milieu, and
could effectively respond to the educational and
occupational aspirations of the upcoming
generations. In view of this, institutions of higher
education in India would do well to invest thought
and resources into introducing CBCS. Aided by
modern communication and information technology,
CBCS has a high probability to be operational
efficiently and effectively elevating learners,
institutions, and higher education system in the
country to newer heights.”
Under CBCS, students will be able to pursue three
types of courses –
4. Foundation Elective and Core
Students must pursue Core subjects every
semester and are free to pick Electives from a pool of
subjects unrelated to their disciplines. This means if
you are a computer science student that you can still
opt for history as an elective. A study of varied
subjects widens students' horizon and exposure.
Further, the grading system followed under the
CBCS will reduce our obsession with marks in
examinations that has led to a mechanical approach
to education.
Education should teach us to have clarity of
thought and not merely rewrite information.
Keeping in mind those individual universities might
not have the necessary faculty for elective subjects;
the government has created a framework for credit
transfer between institutes.
Thus, students can transfer credits from one
university to another, as credits will be recognized by
every university. To strengthen this system, credit
transfers can be either lateral or vertical, that is, at
the same or higher level, respectively.
The current framework suggests allotting 50% of
the total credits to core subjects, 25% to applied core
subjects, 20% to interdisciplinary subjects, and 5%
for foundation courses. With this interdisciplinary
approach, students can choose to develop different
skills on communication, writing, and debating
through their electives and emerge as individuals that
are more employable. Choice based credit system
(CBCS), or a Cafeteria like system is the solution for
this type of transformation from the traditional
teacher oriented education to a student-centered
education. Taking responsibility for their own
education in this way, students can benefit the most
from all the available resources. Academic
commissions and committees such as UGC and
NAAC recommended CBCS for higher education.
5. Review of Literature
Much research literature is not available on the
CBCS system in India. The University of Mysore
have developed many facets of the system and
uploaded on their website. We have considered the
information from their website and used it as the
basis for evaluating the student perceptions in the
primary study. Other studies conducted by the
research scholars and experts were reviewed.
Stanley Jeyasingh (2005) indicated that there exists a
strong resistance to change from every quarter of the
academic world. They are not encouraged to take
courses according to their abilities and pace and there
is no freedom for the first year student to take an
advanced course or a third year student to take an
introductory course. Students are compelled to be
inside the classroom for the entire five hours a day
schedule leaving no scope for independent study.
Thorat Sukh Deo (2009) opened that the CBCS
will facilitate part completion of an academic
program in the institution of enrolment and part
completion in a specialized institution.
Chaudhary Chetna (2012) reported that Credit’ is
the weightage given to a course, usually in relation to
the instructional hours assigned to it. In Higher
Education, the option must be introduced for the
students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses
to choose additional subjects not related to their core
courses. CBCS has the ability to accommodate
diverse choices that students may like to have. It is
also recommended to establish centers of excellence
in all universities and provisions for core-credits and
Page 3 of 5
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 03 Issue
11
October 2017
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 110
elective or optional credits for different levels of
academic programmes.
Das Amutha Joseph (2012) ascertained that higher
Education has undergone quite a lot of
transformation over the years. After the Kothari
Commission report in 1966, discussions on college
autonomy started, and a few colleges became
autonomous since 1978 and a few of them have
completed 25 years of such a freedom. Academic
freedom, under autonomy, helped many colleges
innovate new curricula, design relevant courses,
frame new syllabi, and introduce new evaluation
methods. However, the required flexibility for the
students to have a greater choice of courses
appropriate to their interests, needs, and long-term
goals is not available even in autonomous colleges;
rather a rigid and compartmentalized system is
perpetuated. This paper attempts to identify the
unique features of choice-based credit system and the
effect of helping students to decide. A review of
CBCS implementation in Tamilnadu state revealed
that few colleges have the resources to offer a wide
range of innovative courses. A professor of a
government college in Chennai says we offer some
skill-based courses under the CBCS System, but
there is no interdisciplinary option. All students in a
department must opt for the same 'elective'. We
cannot afford to offer any real choice - we don't have
the faculty or infrastructure.” The situation is even
worse in rural colleges, said Vice- Chancellors at the
meeting. The government had suggested a college
cluster System, whereby students could take
advantage of the choice provided at a neighboring
college. However, Mr. Ganesan admitted that this
plan was mired in revenue-sharing wrangles. "If a
government college student wants to take a course at
a self-financing college, who will pay? In addition,
how much will be paid? This needs to be discussed
and sorted out," he said. Government colleges said
the effort to accommodate outside students and offer
a more flexible timetable in a cluster college System
would be more trouble than it was worth. After
thorough review of the earlier studies, relating to the
CBCS the following presented pros and cons are
observed.
6. Prospects of CBCS
After thorough analysis of various studies relating
to the CBCS system the following discussed are the
points, which supports the new system.
Respects students Autonomy: Represents a shift
in focus from teaching based to learning education
since the workload is based on the investment of
time in learning.
Records Student’s workload realistically: This
system calculates not only the time spend by the
students in lectures or seminars but also the time they
need for individual learning and the preparation of
examinations etc.
Helps Self-Learning: Students may undertake as
many credits as they can cope with, without
repeating all the courses (papers) in a given semester
if they are unsuccessful in one or more courses
(papers).
More Flexibility: This system offers more
flexibility to the students by allowing them to choose
inter-disciplinary (known as Extra-Departmental
papers) courses along with major courses, which
makes education more broad-based. It is also helpful
to the learners to choose courses and papers as per
their choice and interest.
Facilities Students Mobility: Providing
opportunity to transfer the credits earned at one
institution to another. Provide more transparency
and compatibility between different educational
structures. It promotes mobility of learners from one
institution to another one.
Global Standards: Choice based credit system
would take education system as par the global
standard. Globally acclaimed education system can
be maintained through it, as it has the provision of
offering different courses at the same time.
Different Times: It also helps to the learners to
pursue their courses at different times.
To Realize Potentials: It helps learners to realize
their potentials through the flexibility in offering
courses. It has broadened the base of education
system.
Reduction of Stress and Anxiety: Stress and
anxiety of learners can be reduced through Choice
based credit system. Work efficiency can be
enhanced.
Professional Skills: Development of Professional
skills can be possible under Choice based credit
system.
Maximum use of ICT: It puts emphasis on
seminar presentation, assignment, discussion, project
etc. based teaching. This system stresses on
exercising maximum use of ICT in classroom
teaching.
Internal Assessment: Choice based credit system
gives importance to the internal assessment too.
Slow Learners Can get Advantage: Slow
learners can get advantage from it, as it has the
flexibility in choosing credits at one time. Equality
among the learners can be ensured through it, as it
has the grading system.
Favourable Learning Environment: It is also
helpful in building favorable learning environment,
as everyone is supposed to take part in learning
process as per his or her ability and competency.
Learners could pace their learning or course as per
their habit and ability.
Teacher Centre to Learner Centre:
Cooperation and healthy work temperament can be
ensured and developed among the learners. Habits
of work commitment of learners can be strengthened.
It can be seen as a major shift from the teacher
centric to learner centric education.
