I feel a revolution has started to change the present education system in India. Every year, many engineering graduates are passing out. But there are many unemployed engineers especially in India. The reason is poor education system.
So, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) wants to close down about 800 engineering colleges across India as there are no takers for their seats, and admissions are plunging in these institutions every year.
AICTE chairman Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe said, “Due to strict AICTE rules, approximately 150 colleges are down voluntarily. According to the rule of the council, colleges that lack proper infrastructure and report less than 30% admissions for five consecutive years will have to be shut down”.
From financial year 2014-15 to 2017-18, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has already approved the progressive closure of more than 410 colleges across India.
Now, you may think what about the existing students career. That is why they said it is Progressive closure which means the institute cannot admit students to the first year in that academic year, for which progressive closure is granted; however, the existing students will continue.
If any college report less than 30% admissions for five consecutive years, then those private engineering colleges can either seek progressive closure and ultimately shut down or turn into polytechnics or science and arts colleges.
The maximum closures approved was in 2016-17 with about 20 institutions in Karnataka followed by Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
AICTE also advised engineering institutes to revise and renew their syllabus, which is one major reason behind the decline in the number of admissions and quality of education.
In order to maintain the quality among the institutes, AICTE has introduced the plan for teachers’ training.
Sahasrabudhe said, “Most engineering college professors or lecturers are M Tech or PhD holders. They don’t usually have experience in teaching aspiring engineers. Now on wards, any engineering college lecturer joining a new will have to undergo six months of exclusive and compulsory training so that they can train future engineers better. Existing engineer lecturers have three years to undergo this training compulsorily.”
The real problem with our present education system is that, it emphasizes more on theoretical knowledge than on practical one. That is why students have big degrees but no useful knowledge on how to work in real world.
So, AICTE recently announced that from this year on wards, every second and third-year student will have to undergo internship compulsorily so that they are hired even before campus placements.
Sahasrabudhe said, “Internship is the time when most students are observed by companies and have a fair chance of being absorbed. So it’s better to be hired that way instead of depending on just five minutes of interview at campus placements. My advice to budding engineers is that they should be attentive and hardworking during internship.”
There are 10,363 engineering colleges across the country. An official with the Department of Technical Education said, “It is the logic of demand and supply. There is no need for the AICTE to intervene and close down colleges. These institutions will eventually shut down due to large number of vacant seats”.
AICTE took a wrong step in giving approval to this many engineering colleges on the first hand. Most of the engineering colleges are started by politicians to make money. However, seems AICTE realized it’s mistake of granting too many engineering college. Are you doing engineering, then you must read this.
However, it’s a good start to provide quality education system. What do you say? Share us in the comments.