In a recent LinkedIn post, Uday K Sinha, an Additional Professor at IHBAS recently mentioned a comprehensive reform of clinical psychology training programs in India. Sinha’s proposal targets various aspects, including academic levels, content, methodologies, and admission and exit mechanisms. He underscores the importance of aligning these changes with the national credit system outlined in the 2020 New Education Policy (NEP).
The objective is to ensure that clinical psychology training becomes more effective, relevant, and consistent with the standards set by the recent educational policy changes. This reform may necessitate adjustments in curricula, modifications in training methods, and the overall alignment of the structure with contemporary educational standards, ultimately enhancing the training experience for aspiring clinical psychologists.
Clinical psychology is an applied branch of psychology that integrates theory, research, and practice to help people’s personal development and adaptation. It also aims to better understand, predict, and treat pain, disability, and maladjustment in individuals. Furthermore, it highlights the behavioural, biological, psychological, emotional, intellectual, and cognitive aspects of human functioning across cultural, socioeconomic, and life spans.
Establishment of Clinical Psychology in India
As a separate science, clinical psychology was begun in the year 1955 at the Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences(NIMHANS). The Medical Council of India approved the curriculum, which went by the name Diploma in Psychological Medicine (DPM) and Diploma in Medical Psychology (DMP). Later, in 1962, a similar program was launched at Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi. Now Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) approved M.Phil in Clinical Psychology allows people to get a license but in the last few weeks to notification of UGC about scrapping an M.Phil has made the licencing process uncertain.
Despite the fact that the American Psychological Association considers clinical psychology to be a general practice and health care provider specialization in professional psychology, the lack of clinical psychologists in India has prevented clinical psychology from receiving the proper respect. To enhance behaviour adjustment, adaptability, personal effectiveness, and satisfaction, clinical psychologists evaluate, diagnose, anticipate, prevent, and treat psychopathology, mental illnesses, and other individual or group difficulties. A graduate of the present M.Phil. program in clinical psychology is expected to work in both science and as a service provider.
The range of issues and demographics that Clinical Psychology serves sets it apart as a general practice speciality. In terms of study, teaching, training, and practice, clinical psychology is concerned with the prevention of mental illnesses, aberrant behaviour, and individual differences in addition to improving lifestyle choices. The current two-year curriculum, however, is insufficient, and it may be replaced by a four-year PhD in clinical psychology following a master’s degree in psychology, or a three-year Psy.D. program in clinical psychology after extensive revisions. In addition to ensuring suitable job prospects on par with the other
specializations, this may stop the brain drain.
Introducing the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its importance in education reforms
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) aspires to accomplish large-scale educational change by delivering excellent education to everyone and growing India into a worldwide knowledge powerhouse. Through an education system rooted in the Indian spirit, we will directly contribute to transforming India or Bharat into a fair and vibrant knowledge society over the long term. The five guiding pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability form the foundation of NEP 2020. It will equip our young people to handle the many domestic and international issues of the twenty-first century.
The core principles and notion is that education should develop not only cognitive skills, or the “foundational skills” of reading and numeracy, as well as “higher-order” skills like critical thinking and problem-solving, but also social and emotional skills, or “soft skills,” are heavily emphasized in the National Education Policy 2020. These “soft skills” include empathy and cultural awareness, grit and perseverance, teamwork, leadership, and communication, among other things. To achieve the aim of universalizing pre-primary education by 2025, the Policy lays special emphasis on mastering foundational reading and numeracy in primary school
and beyond for everyone.
Increasing the use of technology, increasing public funding for education, and emphasizing adult and vocational education are some of its objectives. It suggests
that each subject’s curriculum be pared down to its “core essential” information to provide room for learning that is comprehensive, analytical, and discussion-based. NEP, 2020 offers insightful analyses and helpful recommendations on a range of topics related to higher education, such as the shift to multidisciplinary and holistic education, institutional autonomy, the National Research Foundation’s establishment as a means of promoting high-quality research, teachers’ ongoing professional development, technology integration, internationalization of higher education, reorganizing governance and regulatory architecture,
multidisciplinary curricula, engaging blended pedagogy, valid, reliable, and blended assessment, and the availability of content in Indian languages. During the “Amrit Kaal,” or the following 25 years building up to Developed India in 2047, the policy is anticipated to have a long-lasting positive influence on the educational system.
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