The Federation of Associations of Managements of Unaided Professional Educational Institutions has said that inspections should also be conducted at government-controlled self-financing engineering colleges in the State to ascertain the quality of teaching faculty.
Reacting to the Kerala High Court's directive to the State government to ensure the quality of the teaching faculty in engineering colleges, G.P.C. Nayar, president of the federation, said in a communication that the 22 self-financing engineering colleges under the government should also be brought under the purview of this inspection.
He said the lack of teachers in engineering colleges was a nation-wide problem. A survey conducted in 2006 had found that the country was facing 65 per cent shortage of qualified teachers. The federation had met the Union Minister for Human Resource Development requesting him to sanction appointment of B.Tech. degree holders as teachers in engineering colleges, he said.
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Mr. Nayar said the Minister had agreed to appoint B.Tech. graduates as faculty members for three more years. He had also allowed the managements to retain the existing faculty.
Mr. Nayar urged the government not to include party workers in the team constituted for conducting inspections in colleges. Only educational experts should be appointed to the committee, he said.