Give greater powers to Distance Education Council, says Swati Mujumdar

The only solution to get rid of over regulation in the system is to make the Distance Education Council (DEC), the apex authority regulating distance education in the country, an independent body under the Ministry of Education. This was suggested by director of Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning (SCDL), Swati Mujumdar, during an interview with DNA.

Formed under the clause 16 of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Act, 1985, the DEC got a go-ahead to promote and monitor the quality of distance education in the country. Though distance education is the most viable mode to spread education in different parts of the country, Mujumdar said that the government is not doing enough for the growth of distance learning.

Doubting whether there will ever be a unanimous legislation on distance education monitoring, Mujumdar said, “The question remains if the monitoring mechanism has been effective and unbiased in its functioning. The DEC is an authority under the IGNOU, without any power and they keep comparing other distance learning institutes with IGNOU. They lack manpower and there are so many pending proposals with them. The DEC is only aggrandising IGNOU, without knowing the needs of other institutes.”

Mujumdar also pointed out that since the DEC chairman is also the vice chancellor of IGNOU, the DEC decisions and actions are always enacted by IGNOU. “If we want to extend the geographic reach of distance education, the DEC must have a separate status as the apex organisation for monitoring, accreditation and regulation of distance education, under the Ministry of Education, and not as a department under IGNOU.”

Reflecting on the educational bureaucracy at DEC, Mujumdar said, “There are around 130 books, which we have designed and sent to DEC for inspection. For the last five years we have not received any reply from them. If the quality is not good, let them give us the parameters. Unless they don’t give us the parameters on how the quality is judged, how are we supposed to know?” 
She further pointed out how IGNOU can offer conventional full-time programmes in collaboration with educational institutes, when it is not authorised to do so by the Act of Parliament it was formed under.

As a representative of India and South Asia on the executive committee of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU), Mujumdar said that the international council is of the opinion that DEC is not playing an active role in India.