 | Guest Column RN Panda |
Educational institutions are not only places of learning but also centres to mould youngsters into good citizens. With the advancement of technology, to supplement the technical professionals, colleges have come up in large numbers in the last two decades. But with the commercialisation of technical education, education as a whole has lost its very purpose.
Two decades ago there were three engineering colleges in our state and only meritorious students were getting seats in such institutions. Such students were respected in the society but presently anyone who passes Plus Two science is eligible to take admission in colleges.
Nowadays, surprisingly, a student, who has failed in the Plus Two science examination but passes in mathematics by appearing the instant examinations and just manages to secure pass marks, gets a seat under the management quota and sits in the same class where the topper of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is studying. If one looks at this wide spectrum of gap of intellect, one can very well imagine to what extent the purpose of technical education has been lost and commercialised.
This year, the Orissa JEE was conducted in the month of May and results were published soon after but students are yet to be admitted into the courses.
The minimum eligibility as fixed by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) is 45 per cent, but the leaders of technical institutions are still fighting to lower the eligibility bar to a level where a student of any academic standard can get admission.
A student studying Plus Two science might not be putting in the effort required to secure a good rank in the JEE but the parents start arranging for funds to admit them into an engineering college.
Such students, after getting admission, stay away from studies and indulge in indiscipline in college, participate in strikes to shift the semester examinations, stage demonstrations to do away with the back paper system and get promoted to the next year, etc.
These activities not only blemish the educational system but also hamper the reputation of the university and its ranking at the national level. This leads to delay in the publication of results as well as students to get jobs in time.
Besides, the number of colleges have increased by leaps and bounds, regardless of the fact that competent teachers are not employed to deal with the students. Lack of adequate library, laboratories, hostels and basic amenities provoke the students to start demonstrations leading to disorder, damage of public property, lawlessness and at times, even loss of life. It is therefore essential that one has to find out what real education means.
Many institutions, which have come up in the state of late, have managed to get affiliation and recognition from authorities despite the fact they lack proper infrastructure.
Some junior colleges run from dingy, rented flats but make tall promises through their websites or media and hire marketing agents to get students for admissions. They do not provide proper teaching but fix examination centres of their own choice, indulge in malpractice and manipulation to get cent per cent results.
For instance, there are a few self financing junior colleges which cancelled their allotted centre just one day before the exams. They fixed their own centre where there was rampant malpractice and as a result, all students secured first class marks.
When these students take admission in technical institutions through management quota, they will not have an integrated view of life, will become callous, distractive or even insane.
Students must realise life is not about what you want to be but what you ought to be. And this loses its importance if one has the money to purchase a seat to be a technocrat in life.
The government or the sanctioning authority should not dilute ethics, spirit of rules to sanction affiliation without proper evaluation of the colleges.
An academic calendar should be implemented, number of working days should be fixed and proper supervision should be done to evaluate the academic status of the institution.
And this report must be published in public interest. Students have a right to know about the institutions they are applying to.
Character is destiny; it is character which determines the destiny of a nation. One cannot have a great nation with men and women of small character. The professional educational institution should stress upon inculcating moral values among students.
There are many educational institutions which have been instituted by eminent educationists and are marching ahead of other institutions. They have deserving students, a vision to build a state-of-the-art educational system and facilitate the process of imparting quality professional and technical education.
They have the mission to promote quality teaching of global perspective, to acquire knowledge and skill through updated training and research, to achieve transformation of knowledge, to establish effective, efficient and transparent system of examination and evaluation, to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students, to foster close interaction with industries and to realise and adopt social responsibility.
These institutions should have highly dedicated and sincere faculty members to impart quality education through lectures, tutorials, practical classes and case studies, and engage in research work and publications.
It should attract a large number of sponsored research and development consultancy projects and provide placements of students in established companies.
Such institutions, having this mission and vision and leaders to guide, will never suffer from the evils of commercialisation of education, rather would always be preferred by students - students who will bring glory to the nation.
