While those States which do not have an IIT or IIM may have reason to cheer after the announcement of the setting up of IITs and IIMs in each State, one wonders whether the setting up of more such institutes will do any good to those aspiring to pursue their engineering or management studies given the state of the existing ones which are facing immense infrastructure problems and an acute shortage of competent faculty members. Instead, the priority should be to strengthen the IIT and IIM brands by addressing these issues. Most of those set up by the UPA do not even have their own campuses let alone other essential facilities for imparting quality education. Let not the quality of education be sacrificed for the sake of numbers. It must be remembered that these institutes were established as “Institutes of National Importance” and not as coaching centres with an all-India network.
S.K. Choudhury,
Bangalore