Dental curriculum reform in India: Undergraduate students' awareness and perception on the newly proposed choice based credit system

BACKGROUND: Dental education plays a crucial role in producing competent dental professionals who can cater to the diverse needs of patients. This study aimed to assess the awareness and perception of the newly proposed Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) by the Dental Council of India (DCI) among dental undergraduate students in Belagavi City, India. METHODS: The study adopted a cross-sectional design and was conducted among undergraduates and interns of two dental colleges in Belagavi, India. A pilot study was conducted, which was followed by sample size estimation. A total 480 participants were recruited by simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire used was self-administered and comprising 23 close-ended questions in English, for which the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.85, with an 84% score for face validity and a content validity ratio of 0.78. RESULTS: The mean awareness and perception scores were highest among interns, while it was lowest among the first years. Majority of the study participants (62.7%) were unaware of this new curriculum whereas almost half (49%) of them found it to be student-friendly. A positive correlation was seen between the perception and awareness scores (r = +0.270, P ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study reveal that a significant proportion of dental undergraduates lacked awareness regarding the implementation of the new curriculum, however they had a positive outlook towards it. The adoption of this model appears to be a promising initiative towards enhancing the quality of dental education at a national level.