May 17, 2024 | Adamas University

Language Acquisition: A view from Cognition and UG approach

Language and Cognition

It has been widely discussed in the literature of cognitive approach towards language acquisition that humans organize the world in concepts and children acquire those concepts. So, what cognitive linguists have stated that perceptual experience gives rise to conceptualisation followed by lexicalisation. Genter and Borodistky (2000) argue that there are two possibilities: one in which concepts arise from cognitive-perceptual sphere, which they term as Cognitive dominance and the second possibility is the Linguistic dominance, which states that the world presents perceptual bits whose clumping is not ‘pre-ordained’. In fact the usage of language leads these perceptual bits to get conflated into concepts. It is quite a well-known fact that children acquire language effortlessly, without being taught explicitly. They acquire language in a way that is similar across cultures. They start with the babbling stage, then they gradually move to one-word stage, multi-word, and finally establish relations between linguistic items.

Noun Advantage

Noun Advantage is a well-known phenomenon in child language acquisition. The first productive words of one to two year old children (excluding greetings and refusals) are predominantly nouns.

Gentner (1982) states that an infant learning a language has two streams of information: first, the ongoing stream of the perceptual-cognitive information about the world around; second, the stream of language being spoken. The child’s task in learning word-meanings is to match up these two streams. Now there are some collections of perceptual information that are particularly easy to separate from the world stream, perhaps because they are more salient, or more stable. And these particularly stable concepts are considered to be concrete objects and lexicalised in adult language as nouns. Gentner, based on cross-linguistic evidence (from languages likes Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, German, Turkish, English), shows that nouns enter the vocabulary before verbs. Gentner and Boroditsky claim that noun-dominant property of a child’s early word stage rests upon two corollaries of the Division of Dominance: Natural partition hypothesis and relational relativity hypothesis (Gentner, 1988; Gentner and Boroditsky, 2000). Division of dominance takes off the classical distinction between open class and closed class lexical category. Open class words have denotational functions and closed class words serve grammatical or relational functions. Gentner (1981, 1988) reviewed this distinction and suggested that this division is better viewed as a continuum, with verbs and prepositions ranged between nouns and closed class words. Like closed class terms, verbs and prepositions perform relational functions. They are linguistically embedded, i.e., their forms, meanings, and usages are shaped by language to a greater degree than is the case for concrete nouns.

So, if we look into the division of dominance continuum we can notice that at one end concrete nouns, which refer to objects and animate beings, follow cognitive- perceptual dominance. They denote entities that can be individuated on the basis of perceptual experience. On the other end we have closed class terms which follow linguistic dominance. Their meanings do not exist independent of language. Unlike closed class terms, verbs (motion verbs) and (spatial) prepositions have denotational function, but the composition of events and the relations they denote, those are negotiated via language.

The first productive words of 1-2 year old children are predominantly nouns. It has been a matter of debate that noun dominance is due to the cognitive salience of objects in the environment, or due to a difference in the way a language structures nominal and verbal categories. G&B proposed two interrelated hypotheses that respectively address these factors: NP and RR. NP hypothesizes that concrete objects and entities are easier to individuate in the world and therefore easier to label. Verbs on the other hand refer to ‘relational constellations’ (Gentner, 1982) which require the presence of the entities they link. Entities thus have representational priority in the infant mind and consequently in infant language acquisition. Predicative meanings vary more than those of concrete nouns because relational terms are not ‘out there’ as individuated objects are. In language acquisition study (Nelson, Goldin-Medow, Gentner, Vijaya and Amritavlli, among others) it is observed that the acquisition of verbs proceeds in tandem with other closed class terms and this heralds the multi-word utterances. Thus, verb production marks the onset of syntax in a language.

So, the question that now arises: Is it the case that cognitive dominance and linguistic dominance are the only factors that influence language acquisition?

Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition

We know that when language cannot find its way through oral-modality through manual channel, as in sign language. When other children at the age of 6-8 months start to babble: produce sequence of sounds without attached meaning, the deaf and blind children exposed to a sign language also start to babble in the manual modality. Landau and Glietman (1985), Bigelow (1987), among others have found that the vocabulary of blind children consists of less object words and more action words. This may be obvious given the nature of the disability. The sensory-perceptual experience that surrounds the acquisition of language is very different for a blind and a sighted child; yet the language of these children grow in very similar fashion. Petitto (1996) has shown that the same milestones of language development characterise the acquisition of spoken and sign language. At 6-8 months children start to babble orally or manually, around 12 months the first words or first signs appear, around 24 months children start to combine words or signs together. Thus the modality in which language is expressed (orally or manually) does not change the course of language acquisition. The kind of linguistic and extralinguistic experience available to deaf or blind children is different from that of hearing and sighted children. Yet, there are not great differences in the milestones of language development.

So, how does this happen? The cognitive dominance or the natural partition hypothesis cannot account for this. Let us first talk about the nature of linguistic input. The linguistic input is impoverished in both natural language and sign language. We will see that input does not encode information to infer how the linguistic structure is organised. The linguistic output outstrips the linguistic input.

Let’s take a look at some natural language data

Show me the second underlined black ball

The way words are combined obey some constraint.

These examples illustrate one of the key property in linguistic rules: recursiveness. There is nothing in the string of sounds that alluded to this property. There are many more instances that support the argument for the poverty of stimulus.

Now the argument for the poverty of stimulus also holds in the case of sign languages. Goldin-Meadow (1982, 1984, 1998) studied the homesigns of the children raised in the USA and in China. Homesigns: deaf children spontaneously create rudimentary and idiosyncratic gestures to communicate with hearing members of the family or other deaf people. Goldin-Medow found some interesting observations. Combination of signs (around 24 months) by deaf children reared in different cultures shared structural properties. The specific patterns that these homesigns children from the USA and China developed were neither similar to that of the respective oral languages (English and Chinese), nor to that of the respective sign languages (ASL and CSL). It was a pattern found in some natural languages spoken around the world, Basque, Tibetean, some aborigine languages spoken in Australia. So, if this knowledge does not come from the input, where does it come from? Chomsky’s answer that humans are biologically endowed with a UG, an innate structure that encodes the form of a possible human language and that guides the child during the acquisition of language. Now the fact that children are endowed with such a structured capacity for language does not mean that the environment does not have a role to play. Off course, it does.

Ethnographic Exploration: A Dimension of Sociological Study

Sociological research opens up with several dimensions of research methodologies and methods that fit with the objective of the study. Sociological research encompasses with adventures and zeal to explore new domain of knowledge. Ethnographic research is amongst one of it. At its core, sociology examines the structures, institutions, and dynamics that shape human behaviour and social interactions. It is a part of qualitative research to study and understand social phenomena within specific cultural groups or communities. Ethnographers immerse themselves in the culture they are studying, often for an extended period, to gain a deep understanding of the community’s beliefs, behaviors, practices, and social structures. For example, an ethnographic study when deals with tribal communities to understand about their culture and lifestyles often opts for participant observation and resides with a particular community so that it becomes easier to understand their daily life rituals and also the significance of those rituals in their lives.

In sociological domain, conducting an ethnographic study can gain attention to understand various underlying factors of the tribal communities, who are also recognised as marginalized communities. Being marginalised tribal peoples live in isolations however, they possess certain features that make them unique, by cultural, social and political entity. Their habits and rituals have a marked dissimilarity with other people.Tribal people in India are also recognised as Adivasi meaning “aboriginal inhabitants”. Also, there are various terms used in relation to them such as Atavika, Vanavasi (“forest dwellers”), or Girijan (“hill people”), amongst Adivasi carries the specific meaning of being the original and autochthonous inhabitants of a given region and was specifically coined for that purpose in the 1930s. Over time, unlike the terms “aborigines” or “tribes”, the word “adivasi” has developed a connotation of past autonomy which was disrupted during the British colonial period in India and has not been restored. They generally live outside the mainstream society. Most ordinary Indians known little about them. There are some 573 communities recognized by the government as Scheduled Tribes and therefore eligible to receive special benefits and to compete for reserved seats in legislatures and schools. They range in size from the Gonds (roughly 7.4 million) and the Santals (approximately 4.2 million) to only eighteen Chaimals in the Andaman Islands. Central Indian states have the country’s largest tribes, and, taken as a whole, roughly 75 percent of the total tribal population live there.

But in present times it is seen that they are in the process of absorption. N.K Bose in “Hindu Method of Tribal Absorption” has also stated that the tribes get absorbed in the Hindu society. He has described how the Juangs, Oraos and Mundas has adopted the Hindu way of life by accepting the caste structure. Hence, they are treated as hardly differentiable from neighboring Hindu peasantry. Some of the well-known tribes in this category are said to be Bhils, Bhumijs. Majhis, Khasas and Raj-Gonds. Many a time these tribal communities are forced to change their cultural practices to get into the mainstream of the society. These tribal communities hence face a lot of hindrances to continue their cultural practises and often fear of losing their cultural identity. However, for social acceptance, they leave behind their own customs and take up the traditions of other communities.

In this context, we can bring the example of “Sankritization” which refers to the process where the people belonging in the lower stratum imitate or take up the lifestyle of the upper castes and leave some of their own habits like liquor drinking or beef eating to get accepted by the upper caste people or to be one of them. Sociologists and anthropologists often refer to this process to describe the change in tribal society. But one thing that Xaxa pointed out is that the tribes are completely outside the Hindu caste system and that is why they are referred to as tribes but for the process of Sanskritization, the tribes have to enter into the Hindu society first. So, in the case of tribes, the process can be better referred to as Hindunization.

In the 1950s a policy of protection was adopted towards all the tribal peoples in India. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once wrote: “There is no point in trying to make them a second rate copy of ourselves…they are people who sing and dance and try to enjoy life; not people who sit in stock exchanges, shout at each other, and think themselves civilized.”So in one hand it is stated that they can preserve their traditions but in the other hand they have to integrate with the mainstream society to survive and gain acceptance. So we can see that that this statement of preserving their culture often turns into a paradox. Here the sociologists can actually help by studying these communities thoroughly where major concentration should be given to their everydaypractises and the problems that they are facing for carrying out their practises.

In connection to the ethnographic study on tribal communities, it has been observed that Savara tribes are neither Sanskritized nor Hindunized. They are able to keep their original culture and identity alive. They still practice their exotic religious practices.

To understand their complex set of foreign cultural practices, myths and rituals it is very essential to carry out an intensive ethnographic study. Their daily lived experiences were captured by interaction and interpretation to get a richer understanding of their social relations and workings of the society. Their cultural practices can better be understood by listening to their narratives and personal stories and experiences and even participating in their cultural rituals and practice that will help an ethnographer to achieve a clearer understanding about that community.

Information and Communication Technology and Smart Education

What challenges do we encounter as a teacher?

As a teacher I have to face several challenges in the context of the education system in India where the classrooms are filled with heterogeneous learners and one of them is to get going the passive, non-interactive, non-performing learners. The heterogeneous learners in India are composed of multi-lingual and multi-cultural students who belong to diverse social categories such as gender, religion, and caste, and also to different economic strata. They hail from a curious mix of different and sometimes largely uneven educative institutional cultures. Further, they display varying levels of competence in language communication in general, and English language communication in specific. Altogether, they reflect and embody the complex differential phenomenological histories within the ambit of education.

The Problem at Hand

Due to the varying intensities of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the teaching-learning mechanism at that time was being conducted in the virtual mode through the usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based tools. Apart from immediate challenges that threatened continuous seamless teaching-learning process, such as, the digital divide, disparate and incommensurate life conditions at homes, I have faced daunting tasks of being unable to reach out and communicate with a group of students who remained inert during the class sessions. The conventional strategies of attempting to ensure their participation in most of the learning, assessment, and evaluation procedures proved futile. This compelled me to ponder and introspect on the practical pedagogical formulations which interacts heavily and regularly with the domain of ICT. It appeared that the philosophical-theoretical debates on the role of ICT in education and the practical-pedagogical challenges involved therein have hitherto remained focused on motivated learners. The passive, non-interactive, and non-performing learners (our target learners) in the classroom have remained discursively excluded. Thus, the immediate challenge for me is to make attempts at involving the target learners’ in the institutional educative process.

Developing Metacognition through ICT Based Education

At my university, I offer courses in Linguistics and Communicative English. In the Communicative English classes what I observed is that I have always received feeble responses from the target learners in a number of task based activities. It was a “story-telling task” that struck chords with the learners. During the “story-telling task” (assessing coherence and cohesion of ideas among the learners) that was conducted twice – without and with ICT tools – it was noted that during the former, the target learners showed memory failure, difficulties in mapping contexts & events, lack of comprehension about the text generated by the previous participants, and that culminated in the overall failure to understand the text narrative. However, later when the same task was executed with image cards, and power point presentation over a Learning Management System (LMS) platform, the target learners could successfully fulfill the assigned tasks. During self-assessment, they unanimously chose visual perception as a stimulus that facilitated in understanding, remembering, analyzing, applying, and creating their knowledge level. It was the first time that the learners not only participated in the activity, but also were actively engaged in self-assessment and evaluation processed. They finally opened up and started regularly articulating themselves in the teaching-learning sessions. The above instance and the outcomes that it generated actually led me to furthermore dwell on the relational aspects of ICT tools in inducing the metacognitive faculties of the target learners. It has been found that ICT based language teaching meta-cognitively empowers the target learners, offers them alternative strategies to claim their space within the educational fold, articulate their self and aspirations.

Information and Communication Technology Based Education and Enhancement of Critical Thinking

With rapid strides in the global technical and digital advancements, newer ways, avenues, and modes of learning have emerged. ICT services and tools have assumed the formal incorporation into what is understood to be Smart Education that thrives on modern existing & emergent technologies of customized learning. The new smart technology enables education to be more learner-centric, where the learner can exercise principal choices in the elaborate knowledge acquisition procedure, and secure autonomy to take responsibility of the learning process. As a result, the learner emerges as a key agent in the field of education. Through the meeting of individuated requirements or customized formations, smart technology provides several alternatives in terms of knowledge sources for prospective learners to engage in learning activities. Consequently, it increases the learners’ participation, and also promises ample scope for the learners and the learning process to be interactive. Thus, ICT based smart education has transformed the landscape of education by replacing the erstwhile lecture based and teacher-centric process of knowledge exchange. With the sole focus on the learner, smart education seems to provide the former with increased motivation. Two contrasting features appear to operate simultaneously in this field – one, fragmentation of knowledge & atomized individualization of the learner, and two, assembly of fragmented knowledge to generate an impression of a ‘holistic’ view of knowledge content, and cultivation of academic solidarity of the learners within crystallized communities. ICT as a support for smart education provides several benefits, like: easy access to reading and other study materials, continuation of learning outside the classroom space, online discussion forums, enables teachers and learners to render the study process more flexible, and focuses on the principle of individualization based on different interests, levels of competence & expertise, and needs.

Apart from the pedagogic advantages offered by ICT mediated instruction, the faculty of critical thinking can be developed as learners engage with tools, discuss, experiment, collaborate, make decisions, and solve problems using various tools. Moreover, in ICT mediated learning, the control on the entire learning process consisting of aims & objectives of a particular lesson, the specific kind or sort of information & knowledge that needs to be accessed, the time factor as to when it would be accessed, the utilization of the information-data-knowledge, securing the outcomes of the learning, qualitative and quantitative assessment & evaluation of the learning rests on the learner. ICT mediated education establishes self-regulated learning process, where the learners are aware of what, why, and how they are learning. Technology based learning (in particular, e-learning) enables the teaching-learning process to be more flexible as it takes into consideration the needs of different learners depending upon their levels of competence – basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. They can plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning process. The minute constitutive process adds on to the critical thinking capacity of the learner in this case.

In order to develop critical thinking skill and analytical skill, the learning environment needs to be conducive and learner friendly. ICT tools like various learning applications, different types of software, videos, images, audio files, power point presentations, among others, simulate a ‘constructivist’ classroom wherein the learners can engage in long-term learning process, constructing their own learning by asking questions and finding better approaches to solve the problems. The ICT mediated classroom makes the learning process more interesting as ideas and information can be presented in different forms such as images, video clips, audio clips, tables, graphs, and even multimedia. The emergence of World Wide Web associated with internet has compelled stake holders within the academia to invent new forms of learning that would add significantly to the creation of learner’s autonomy and its enhancement as well.

Considering that this blog focuses solely on English as Second Language Acquisition (ESLA) and TESLA, it may be claimed that ICT provides the language learners the opportunity of real-life exposure to the technical and socio-cultural aspects of language communication by giving them an insight into those who speak the target language as their native language. For example, through digital platforms such as emails (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, et.al), social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Face Time, professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, and other video conferencing applications such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Cisco Webex platforms to name a few, language learners can interact with native speakers and this enables them to understand the communicative culture of the target language speakers. That in turn facilitates the language learning process for the non-native speakers. ICT tools such as Interactive whiteboards, power point presentations, video clips, and images, they provide stimulating visual aids as a productive strategy to support the comprehending, understanding, and using of the target language in real contexts. In ICT mediated learning, the learners have freedom to access information and control their own learning speed. It makes the language learners aware of the whole learning process. The learners can consciously adopt preferable language learning strategies as per their need. This further intends to establish a more action/outcome based learning.

While using technology to plan their learning goals and outcomes, the learner becomes aware of one’s own cognitive process, which further inculcates self-regulation of learning objectives and active monitoring of the learning process. Thus, the arena of language learning and knowledge acquisition gets invested with neural vectors with the predominant intersection of a complex network involving cognitive, supra-cognitive, and metacognitive practices for the fulfillment of broader goals.

History of Nursing: An Emerging Field of Research in History and Gender Studies

The historiography dealing with modern Indian history in general, but also looked particularly at issues around health and medicine, were largely silent on women until as recently as the 1980s. Several works have been done by historians on the aspect of women and medicine specializing in women’s health issues and women’s professions like women Doctors, Midwives, etc. We can find also works that have been done by historians in the latter half of the 20^th century specializing in the changing role of bhadramohila with the introduction of Modern education with an intense focus on the medicalization of childbirth, motherhood, sexuality, and birth control, medical education and women profession. Discussion on the development of the nursing profession was relatively rare.

It is well-known that nursing is a pillar of the modern medicine. Without their support, the system of healthcare would collapse. During the colonial period, the character of nursing was different from what it is today. Nursing was not as formalized or structured as it is now. It was primarily informal and provided by untrained professionals. After the Revolt of 1857, its necessity was felt by the British authorities, especially in the field of military nursing. But what was the role of the nursing profession in the development of general healthcare, especially for women’s health? Initially, responsibility was imposed on British women, and gradually, women missionaries took charge of the development of women’s healthcare. Due to the huge demand, nursing received considerable attention from the state.

After the Revolt of 1857, its necessity was felt by the British authorities, especially in the field of military nursing. But what was the role of the nursing profession in the development of general healthcare, especially for women’s health? Initially, responsibility was imposed on British women, and gradually, women missionaries took charge of the development of women’s healthcare. Due to the huge demand, nursing received considerable attention from the state. The establishment of new hospitals also increased the demand for nursing services. The colonial authorities also established new institutions as philanthropic bodies for the training of nurses. Indian Nursing Service (1888), Calcutta Hospital Nurses Institute (1859), Trained Nurses Association of India (1908) etc.

Bengal, being the earliest seat of British power, was the first to encounter Western education and culture. It also had the most elaborate medical establishment along Western lines since the foundation of the Calcutta Medical College (1835). However, women could enter medical institutions for training only during the 1880s. From the 1880s on, we can also see the rising activities of Christian medical missionaries, several of whom were women—Dr. Clara Swain, the first female medical missionary, and Dr. Funny Butlar, for example. Different philanthropic organizations also took active participation in the development of this field. The Medical Women for India Fund (1882), Dufferin Fund (1885), and later Rockefeller Foundation (1915) worked closely with the state, providing training to Indian women in Western medical midwifery and nursing. Another important committee report was the Bhore committee report made by Joshep Bhore in 1945, which provided adequate health protection to all women and came from the official discourses.

Understanding of Colonialism provides insight into how colonial powers imposed their healthcare systems and reshaped indigenous practices to suit their interest. Students can explore how Indian women used nursing as a means of social mobility and resistance against colonial oppression, despite facing various challenges and constraints. By comparing the development of nursing in Bengal with other colonial contexts or with the evolution of nursing in other parts of the world, students can gain a broader understanding of global healthcare histories and colonial legacies. In general, researching the history of nursing in colonial Bengal provides insightful knowledge about how gender, healthcare, and colonialism are connected. This historical perspective can help shape current debates about decolonization, gender equality, and healthcare.

Liberal Arts Education under NEP 2020: Prospects and Opportunities

The very idea that all branches of creative human endeavour, including social science, humanities, vocational and professional subjects, and soft skills should be considered as ‘arts’, has a distinctly Indian origin. It is needless to highlight that famous ancient literature Kadambari, written by Banabhatta, mentions about ‘knowledge of the 64 kalaas or arts. This notion of a ‘knowledge of many arts’ or what in modern times is often called the ‘liberal arts’ must be brought back to Indian education, as it is exactly the kind of education that will be required for the 21^st century. Liberal Arts education covers vivid disciplines of humanities and social sciences such as History, Economics and Development Studies, Politics and International Relations, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, Language and Literature, Linguistics, Music, Theatre, Creative Arts, etc.

The National Education Policy has been launched by the Government of India on 29^th July 2020. It is popularly known as NEP 2020 which outlines the vision of new education system in India. In modern times, knowledge-driven world, access to quality education and the chances of national development are two sides of the same coin. NEP 2020 gives a dynamic vision which could change the implication of all traditional disciplines as per the societal and global needs and demands in the 21^st century world. It provides a multi-layer dimension for the advancement of traditional subjects like humanities and social sciences. The curriculum and syllabus for the liberal arts education would be more focused on the research, innovation and employability. It emphasises on the practical learning of soft skills and critical thinking. So it could enable students to engage in experiential learning activities like debates and discussion, peer learning, flip classes, internship programmes and project on social responsibility and community engagement and so on. Apart from theoretical understanding in specialisation of their degree, students would learn more from the practicality of the discipline with its inter-disciplinary approach.

For academic and professional convenience, these disciplines are taught as independent subjects. This leads to imparting fragmented knowledge to students which results in limited learning, not enough in terms of either knowledge acquisition or the required skills to be employable. Hence, to supplement their capabilities, add-on courses along with an emphasis on learning new skills are to be compulsorily offered to help students become employable. For instance, if students of history take up a couple of add-on courses like a Diploma in Media Studies, Business Analytics, Data Science, economics etc., it helps them to successfully compete for the jobs. Likewise, a course on Indian Society and Culture would be helpful to students desiring to work in non-government organisations, popularly known as NGOs, where it would be value addition. Students from Humanities enrolling for an add-on course on Indian Heritage and Culture would benefit if they aspire for jobs in the tourism industry. Likewise, students of Economics doing one or two add-on courses in International Relation, Public Policy and Political Science would be successful in jobs in public and private international organisations and business journalism. Similarly, students of Journalism will be benefited by taking a course on History or on Public Administration to get familiar with understanding of diversity and social inclusion and functioning of governance, respectively. Another relevant example is the discipline of Social Work which falling in the category of social sciences which has theoretical and practical aspects in due course of learning. Students of Social Sciences should be compulsorily made to opt for add-on course in Social Work as it enables them to take up jobs in the NGO sector and the society at large. In true sense, liberal arts make education more experiential, holistic, integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible, and of course, enjoyable.

This new policy endorses all the major aspects and themes of liberal arts and redefines the utilisation of subject knowledge according to the global standard of education. Its inter-disciplinary approach makes all the disciplines of humanities and social science more relevant and meaningful. At one side, it attempts to reshape the curriculum and syllabus of social sciences as per the needs of global market and on the other side it maintains the core traditional value of liberal arts education with its distinct characteristics and features. Apart from this, it also accommodates various allied subjects into the domain of liberal arts education as an independent discipline. For example, Tourism, Indian Heritage and Culture, Yoga, Public Policy, Social Work, Environmental Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Ethics and so on are incorporated as a separate degree course in the domain of social sciences with its redefined syllabus. All curriculum and pedagogy is redesigned to be strongly rooted in the Indian and local context and ethos in terms of culture, traditions, heritage, customs, language, philosophy, geography, ancient and contemporary knowledge, societal and scientific needs, indigenous and traditional ways of learning etc. in order to ensure that education is maximally relatable, relevant, and effective for the students.

Liberal arts education enables the development of an enlightened, socially conscious, knowledgeable, and skilled nation that can find and implement robust solutions to its own problems. It forms the basis for knowledge creation and innovation thereby contributing to a growing national economy. NEP 2020 aims to bring holistic change in all the disciplines of humanities and social sciences and so it highly recommends the cross-disciplinary approach in liberal arts education. The policy emphasises on the maximal utilisation of each discipline which lies in the domain of humanities and social sciences. The objective behind liberal arts education is to provide more opportunities to students, so they can become skilled and employable. This policy also attempts to shift the paradigm of social sciences from traditional subject to technical one by focusing more on its practicality of understanding. It emphasises on discipline-specific experiential learning activities and its utilisation in the job market.

The policy also recommends that, towards the attainment of such a holistic and multidisciplinary education, the flexible and innovative curricula of all higher education institutes shall include credit based courses and projects in the areas of social responsibility and community engagement, environmental education, and value-based education. Value-based education consists of the development of humanistic, ethical, constitutional, and universal human values of truth (satya), righteous conduct (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prem), non-violence (ahimsa), scientific temper, citizenship values, and life-skills (as mentioned in the NEP draft). In this regard, social responsibility and community engagement programmes is considered an integral part of holistic education. Thus, it provides an interdisciplinary learning which leads to an overall development of students. Courses and programmes in subjects, such as Indology, Indian languages, yoga, arts, music, history, culture and modern India, globally relevant curricula in the sciences, social sciences, and beyond, meaningful opportunities for social engagement, quality residential facilities would be fostered to attain the goal of global quality standards, attract greater numbers of international students, and achieve the goal of ‘internationalisation at home’.

In career point of view, liberal arts education opens up vast range of job opportunities in the field of government and private sectors such as civil services, social work, archive and museum, archeology, teacher, lecturer, content writing, script writing, journalism, public relation, media and broadcasting, infotainment industry, translation, etc. There are some universities which are emerging as a centre for excellence in liberal arts education such as Ashoka University (Sonipat), FLAME University (Pune), Adamas University (Kolkata), Christ University (Bengaluru) and so on. Adamas University (Kolkata) is one of the best higher education institutions in eastern part of India which has a distinct school for liberal arts education i.e., School of Liberal Arts and Culture Studies (SOLACS). This school runs various programmes of liberal arts education under NEP 2020. Important to highlight that SOLACS is supported by Centre for Study of Contemporary Theory and Research, Centre for Lifelong Learning and Career Development Centre.