Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the teaching community in engineering colleges to go beyond the confines of the academic curriculum to impart knowledge about emerging technologies among students.
He has also exhorted them to integrate the positive aspects of traditional teaching methods with modern pedagogical techniques to provide a holistic education for budding engineers.
Mr. Vijayan was speaking while inaugurating the 80th anniversary celebrations of the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, here on Tuesday.
Crucial role
According to him, teachers had a crucial role in enabling students to keep pace with the advancements in the field of science and technology at a time when numerous engineers struggled to land jobs in their respective areas of specialisation.
For this, constant efforts must be made to update one’s knowledge base to stay ahead of the changing times, he said.
NIRF ranking
Referring to the college’s achievement of securing the 71st position (among engineering colleges) in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings for 2019, Mr. Vijayan exhorted the institution to aim to get into the top 25 list.
In his presidential address, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel delved into the recent controversy that had erupted over his alleged involvement in awarding moderation to students.
Minister’s stance
He reiterated his stance that he did no wrong while convening adalats in universities and that taking the lead role in introducing bold reforms was bound to earn him brickbats from various quarters.
Referring to the recent adalat in the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University that paved the way for a BTech student’s answer script getting revalued and subsequently enabling him to clear the subject, Dr. Jaleel said he did all what a teacher would ideally have done for the student’s well-being.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran formally inaugurated the Harithaanganam initiative as part of which an ecosystem hotspot was developed on the campus.
The area has been envisaged as a refuge for endangered plant species that were native to the region.
80 plant species
Executed by the college with support from Arborites Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, the hotspot will have 80 plant species in the initial phase.
Director of Technical Education K.P. Indiradevi, college Principal Jiji C.V., Thiruvananthapuram Corporation councillor Alathara Anilkumar, college union chairperson Anjuradh T.R., PTA vice president K.T. Balabhaskaran, CET Alumni Association vice president K.P. Krishnakumar, and programme committee secretary Ashok Kumar, were present on the occasion.
