On June 28, the Kerala High Court sent a shockwave through the spine of the technical education system of Kerala. The court observed that the State government and the All India Council of Technical Education should initiate steps to close down self-financing engineering colleges which had a pass percentage below 40 per cent during the past three years.
The students of the closed colleges may be accommodated in neighbouring engineering colleges. Further, no-objection certificates should not be issued for starting new engineering colleges in the State.
Obviously, the Division Bench made these observations because of its righteous indignation at the pathetic academic standards in some colleges. The universities should post the examination results of the self-financing colleges on their websites, it said. The minimum marks for eligibility for admission may be raised. The government should formulate an action plan to improve the standard of education in the engineering colleges.
Whether it is feasible to implement all these reforms in one stroke is a moot point. But anyone who is closely watching the technical education system will share the concern and anxiety expressed by the court. All is not well in our engineering colleges; something has to be done quickly.
Why does the quality come down?
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of engineering colleges. The number of colleges running B.Tech. programmes in Kerala has come close to 150, with an annual intake of some 50,000 students. Many of them are not serious students. They might have joined the colleges because of their parents’ desire to realise their unfulfilled dreams through their children or enhance their social acceptance through reflected glory. Some of the students may be victims of peer pressure.
No one can pursue an engineering degree programme effectively without mathematical aptitude. The cut-off marks for admission is 50 per cent. In the prevailing pattern of extremely liberal valuation at the higher secondary examination, a score of 50 per cent does not indicate suitability for engineering studies. The lessons may be beyond the student’s learning ability. Formerly, students who failed three times in the first year had to leave the college. Though they may not be good enough for engineering studies, they will shine in other fields in tune with their aptitude. There is little wisdom in forcing such students to continue in the engineering stream.
Now, a student who joins the first semester can go till the end of the eighth semester, even if he has not passed any paper in any of the first seven semesters. Take a student who has not cleared the papers in the first four semesters, sitting in the fifth semester class. He may not grasp anything taught by the lecturer. A student who completes the eight-semester programme and comes out with 30 back papers in arrears out of 50 papers will never be able to pass the examination any time. This amounts to a criminal wastage of time, money and energy of the youth. If the student has to repay the educational loan to a bank, one year after the completion of the course, he may be thrown to deep despair with dire consequences. There is an urgent need to revise the university regulations, insisting that a student will be admitted to the fifth semester only after he passes the second semester, and the seventh semester only after he passes the fourth.
Infrastructure
In certain colleges, the infrastructure in terms of laboratories, workshops, library and faculty is not satisfactory. Recognition by the AICTE does not guarantee quality of the institution. Middle-level faculty is woefully inadequate in many colleges. A retired professor and a band of youngsters with B.Tech. degrees cannot fulfil the needs. Even if there are teachers with M.Tech. and Ph.D. qualifications, there may be shortcomings in teaching for want of periodic training or commitment.
What are the consequences?
It may be difficult to close down a large number of colleges in one stroke. So also, there will be severe hardship in transferring students from these colleges to neighbouring colleges. In the first place, the receiving colleges are unlikely to have adequate infrastructure to meet the additional demands. Further, will it be possible for a receiving college to help the incoming students pass the examination, if they are incompetent or uninterested with several back papers to be cleared? The pass percentage depends to a large extent on the quality of the students, as evidenced by the results of top government colleges where the top ranking candidates join. The question of closing down the colleges may have to be studied in detail. A practical step will be to stop fresh admission unless such colleges show improvement. Such colleges which are phased out may have to utilise the infrastructure for courses at other levels.
There is an unseen aspect also. If a new law is enacted to close down colleges with a pass of less than 40 per cent, there would be a concerted effort to boost the pass percentage artificially through unfair means.
Only a small percentage of B.Tech. graduates will be able to find engineering jobs. Many of them may find jobs in software development or the BPO or KPO sector. Some of them may go for Business Management studies, Civil Services, land up as bank officers and insurance officers or join general jobs.
This problem exists in other southern States also. If the colleges in Kerala are closed and those in neighbouring States allowed to flourish, there will be a flow of money from here to other States. However, if the decision of the Kerala High Court is quoted appropriately, ineffective self-financing colleges may have to be closed down there as well. Such possibilities appear to be remote.
The governments and universities should necessarily study this issue diligently and evolve a rational plan of action for qualitative refinement, in the light of the enlightened directions from the High Court. Our colleges have to be fine.
