DR JOSHI FOR STRONG STEPS TO CHECK
EXPOITATION BY PRIVATE ENGINEERING COLLEGES
CONCERN
FOR QUALITY TECH EDUCATION PREVAILS AT STATE EDUCATION SECRETARIES’
CONFERENCE
Minister for Human
Resource Development, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi today appealed to
all-India regulatory bodies and state governments to devise ways
to check exploitation of students seeking technical education
by private educational institutions.
Addressing the conference
of state secretaries of education, the Minister emphasised that
the government is all for participation of the private sector
but not commercialisation of education. The Minister said that
the exploitation of students by private educational institutes
starting with selling admission forms at exhorbitant rates, administering
their own admission tests at different places, charging huge fees
and asking for donations on various pretexts must end soon. The
regulatory authorities, viz the UGC and the AICTE along with state
departments of higher / technical education must evolve a workable
solution to this menace which is resulting in enormous mental
and financial burden to the aspirants and their families, Dr Joshi
said. The government recently decided to have a limited number
of all-India tests for professional programmes, and it would act
soon if regulators in concert with state governments decide on
a system in which aspirants for professional streams are not fleeced,
he said.
The HRD Minister
also called for evolving ways to impart formal training to the
huge manpower of skilled technicians and artisans present in the
country to upgrade their skills. This, he said, would result in
availability of quality technical manpower at various level without
much financial burden on the exchequer, help in overall technical
upgradation of Indian products and processes, and give dignity
to this workforce.
While expressing
satisfaction at the growth of the technical sector in the recent
past, Dr. Joshi expressed his concern over falling standards of
universities and technical institutions, including lack of commitment
among teachers and researchers. He drew the attention of the states
towards indiscriminate proliferation of institutions of higher
learning in some states without ensuring infrastructure and quality
of teaching. He asked those concerned with management of technical
education in the country to come out with a workable performance
appraisal system for research and teaching. He also asked the
states to make use of the Technical Quality Improvement Programme
(TEQIP), for which the Centre has recently sanctioned Rs. 350
crores, for upgrading their technical education infrastructure.
Minister of State
for Higher and Technical Education, Dr. Vallabhbhai Kathiria,
called for speedy vocationalisation of education with need-based,
flexible approach to education to meet the requirements of the
industry and other sectors of national economy.
Union Education Secretary,
Shri SK Tripathi, in his welcome address, called upon the state
secretaries to come up with practical suggestions for evolving
a credit-based, flexible semester system of technical education
at under- and post-graduate levels throughout the country. Other
areas which he said need priority attention include improving
teaching quality through training, starting new strerams, and
improving quality of vocational courses.
Shri Arun Nigvekar,
Chairman UGC, shared the concern over the quality of technical
education, and informed that UGC along with AICTE and the Distance
Education Council have jointly expressed their worries in this
regard to the states and asked for a ‘cohesive and convergent
approach’ to quality education. Prof. Natarajan, Chairman AICTE,
informed that accreditation of technical education institutions
by AICTE is getting good response, and an appraisal scheme is
being formulated for newer institution that do not need mandatory
accreditation, so as to maintain a minimum standard of quality
of teaching.
