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Experts in pharmacy education are of the view that syllabus of B Pharm and D Pharm should be updated at least every second or third year, as one of the major criticisms about Indian pharmacy education is that it fails to go with the time, style and needs.
Innovative teaching methods are lacking in D Pharm institutions because of the rigid syllabus framed by Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). They have blocked the opportunities for innovative thinking in developing suitable syllabus at the university levels. In certain institutions there are competent and skilled teachers, but they too stick to the syllabus as framed by the authorities.
Currently the D.Pharm course is governed by the Education Regulations (ER) 1991 of PCI. It was framed and finalised though a workshop conducted in 1986 at Trivandrum. Now 2017, the Indian pharmacy teachers are forced to teach the student the 26-30 years old syllabus.
The B.Pharm and M.Pharm courses are governed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) based on the provisions of AICTE Act 1987. The PCI and AICTE have to work in tandem for the benefit of profession of pharmacy in India. AICTE makes only guidelines for syllabus and the universities frame their own detailed syllabus and regulations for programs like B.Pharm and M.Pharm.
Since AICTE makes only flexible syllabus leaving the freedom to the universities , the Indian universities have the liberty to update the syllabus at any time and incorporate new concepts and innovations in the regulations and curriculum. However only very few Indian universities dare to make additions and deletions in their syllabus at regular intervals. In this era of science, technology and computer based information, some government universities are notorious in using syllabus framed before 10 or 15 years for pharmacy courses. One cannot blame such universities as the PCI itself is doing the same thing, according to experts in the field.
Dr .G Revikumar, a pharmacy education expert from Kerala, said that the main problem is that it is not the responsibility of PCI to frame the syllabus, it should be framed by the university as they have academia council, expert faculty and Board of Studies (BOS) and with the help of concerned faculties the BOS help the universities in solving the academic issues and problems related to the programmes conducted.
Indian pharmacy syllabus requires serious changes in structure, orientations, functions and style. It has to be made flexible by specifying only the core areas of subjects. The governing authorities through the syllabus only enforce a common core of subjects so that universities/institutions put their emphasize on certain subjects and areas. The universities should be entrusted with the responsibilities of framing and updating the regulations and course contents. The syllabus should be updated regularly and shall meet the requirements of global, national and regional demands, Dr Revikumar added.
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