A fine blend of the classic and the modern

By Vijay Phanshikar

“The teacher’s role is to teach the student how to learn -- and not to stuff the youngster with information or what may be called knowledge”, he says,

standing at the head of the team that is transforming the Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University

during its centenary year. From that vantage point -- which is also the spot where the buck stops -- Vice Chancellor Dr. Subhash R. Chaudhari offers a fine blend of a person who enjoys deep contemplation of the classic definition of what a teacher does, plus the role of the organisation man presiding over the world of hard management decisions. Refusing to get torn by the paradox of the two modes, Dr. Chaudhari works in a rigorous schedule unassumingly, wearing the enormity of the task lightly on his sleeve.

In just a few months, the RTM Nagpur University will host the Indian Science Congress Session, the mega event that would attract global scientific acumen including Nobel laureates. This coincides with the university’s centenary

celebrations, as well. Yet, Dr. Chaudhari does not appear weighed down by the burden of the responsibility. He is ‘cool’ and comfortable with the system and load of work -- and with himself.

The RTM Nagpur University has its own eco-system loaded with groups and politics and moves and counter-moves, as may be the case with each such institution. Yet, in the maze of this activity, Dr. Subhash Chaudhari successfully led the process of restructuring and revamping of the syllabus to make it student-centric from the point of the new National Education Policy 2020.

The effort is to introduce higher and more intense dose of competitiveness in the examination system so that the students get ready for larger life. “We have worked on introducing credit system -- mark-grade points-credit. The new syllabus is activity-based so that the students’ confidence grows. The students can also opt for additional subjects so that a distinction can be made between a common degree and a degree with honours. The choice-based credit system. This will start getting operational from new batches,” Dr. Chaudhari says. The university stands at a critical cross roads, Dr. Chaudhari seems to suggest. In a few years’ time, the entire system of university and college education is going to change. The colleges will have to shoulder the burden of their own students. So, their managements will have to improve their respective institutions’ image through better performance. The universities, too, will become multi-disciplinary knowledge centres where education will have definitive connect with the community needs. Research will get a greater boost and the approach to teaching will go through a revamp so that the students get exposed to what the society needs and how they could fit in on a practical basis, the Vice Chancellor explains.

When on one hand Dr. Subhash Chaudhari talks of these policy details and how the RTM Nagpur University is approaching those, he also deals with soft areas such as understanding and managing the expectations of young generation. “Today’s youngsters need everything fast. They dream of white-collar and high-salaried jobs right from start. Yes, the Information Technology industry has raised opportunity-levels, all right, Yet, the gap between young people’s expectations and their fulfillment is wide. In today’s context, mere academic knowledge is not enough. What is needed most critically is skill. And this process begins first with the teachers. And that is a dicey zone. All teachers are not willing to take the plunge into the new waters. They are cosy, and unhurried about the need for transformation. In fact, the choice-based credit system has been on for quite some time, but no one is bothered. But now a new realisation is dawning and things are expected to look up”, Dr. Chaudhari says.

When he discusses issues such as teachers’ willingness to transform themselves, or get ready for the new environment, Dr. Subhash Chaudhari leans back in his chair, tilts his head a little, and narrates his experiments to promote activity-based learning. “The teachers found designing such courses rather tough. It is certainly much work. But that mode had to be adopted -- as per the need of the industry”, Dr. Chaudhari states.

As the Principal of two leading engineering colleges, he had his pulse on what the industry needed. The academia must adjust itself to the industry-need, he says in retrospect. That awareness is now helping him steer the much bigger organisation such as the RTM Nagpur University.

The point where Dr. Chaudhari makes the difference is his practical awareness of the reality on the ground of education. “Everything is changing. The Google university, so to say, has brought about a lot of changes. The traditional libraries are becoming unfortunately redundant. For, when the students have in their fist a one-click machine that bring to fore every bit of information they need, then the libraries become places of rather a limited utility, falling short on the delivery front”, he adds.

There is no grief in his eyes about the bygone days. He acknowledges the reality, and wishes to chart his course accordingly. Yet, deep within, Dr. Chaudhari harbours a classic picture of what education should be like. It is not his style to fuss about things. Yet, inwardly, he has a classic vision of the teaching-learning process. As a product of the Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University, he is happy that he is its Vice Chancellor in the centenary year. He is conscious of his responsibility, naturally. But an extended conversation with him brings out a very different Dr. Subhash Rambhau Chaudhari -- the man who enjoys the classic thought-process and a practical implementation of a well-made combination of policy-requirement and ground reality in tune with the need of the industry and the society. Possibly, as a father of two daughters, Dr. Chaudhari has an in-house system of connect with young generation.