Varanasi: In the era of ‘One Nation, One Syllabus’, the proposed new regulations of National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) appear to have excluded Home Science from nutrition and dietetics education, giving rise to fear of thousands losing their professional recognition and hospital jobs.To address this apprehension, Human Science Association of India (HSAI), along with department of home science at Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, recently convened a one-day national panel discussion to discuss the issue. The dialogue, attended by leading educators from across the country, revealed a stark reality: the NCAHP framework, if implemented without nuance, may fracture the very ecosystem it seeks to unify.President of HSAI, Prof Madhu Sharan, reminded participants that the association has been advocating for home science since 1940 but now students and teachers in state, Central and ICAR-affiliated universities face ambiguity over future of their food and nutrition programmes. The panel discussion was not to oppose NCAHP, but to ensure its implementation does not marginalise an entire generation of graduates.Prof Jagmeet Madan of the National Nutrition Science Professionals Council stressed a roadmap to integrate curricula operating under UGC, ICAR and state systems without disruption. The HSAI argued that certain specialised domains within food and nutrition should remain outside NCAHP’s scope. Prof Pulkit Mathur of Lady Irwin College, Delhi University, warned that if nutrition science is separated entirely from home science, the latter will struggle to retain relevance. He highlighted practical and administrative difficulties Central universities face in adopting NCAHP curriculum. The transition cannot be imposed across all higher education institutions without protecting future of students who may lose jobs.Prof Usha Antony, former head of department at TNJFU, Chennai questioned: if recognition as a nutrition professional is restricted solely to Bachelor in Nutrition and Dietetics (BND) graduates from medical colleges, will career opportunities for students in state-affiliated colleges shrink? She said, it must be evaluated whether the new curriculum would restrict home science students’ scope to hospital dietetics.Prof Mamoni Das of Assam Agricultural University said there would be practical difficulties in aligning existing curricula and infrastructure with NCAHP regulations and clarified that to preserve their distinct academic identity, food science and related technical fields must be excluded from NCAHP’s scope. The panel concluded that students currently enrolled must be protected through bridge courses or equivalence criteria.
