Nearly one-third of the students enrolled in many of these private self-financing engineering colleges in Kerala end up never taking the university degree — they remain Bachelor divorced from Technology (for life).
It took me by surprise and shook me to the core to read the news item – B. Tech pass percentages fall sharply ( The Hindu, August 28, 2011) , with only 46 per cent of the candidates clearing the final year examination of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, this year; last year, it was 56 per cent. It gives examples detailing how only three out of 67 students passed this year in an engineering college, whereas it was 12 out of 61 last year. There is another case of only one out of 64 passing this year in another engineering college. The list goes on.
What ails our technical education? This is not an attempt to bring out the malaise that has set in; but only aims to trigger healthy discussions about the rot, ultimately leading to a sensible answer.
Todate, there are nearly 150 engineering colleges in the small State of Kerala (exact number cannot be arrived at any point of time, since the powers that be sanction a new engineering college almost every other day) out of which about a hundred are private self-financing colleges. Altogether, all these colleges offer nearly 60,000 seats in an year, out of which more than 10,000 fall vacant.
The reasons for the proliferation of engineering colleges (also medical colleges) have to be found in the Malayalee psyche, which somehow wants to see their children become engineers and doctors, notwithstanding their merit.
Taking advantage of liberalisation, many people have turned to the field; now that education is deemed to be an industry with more glitter and glamour, all and sundry flush with cash have started investing in private self-financing institutions, which they expect to bring good returns laced with the sheen of social acceptance. This is not to deny the fact that there are educational agencies and religious congregations committed to providing quality education; institutions run by them, what with their social commitment and treating educational services as social mission render sterling services; but they are a minority amid the cacophony and chaos. Also, the old generation engineering colleges and the REC (now NIT) serve the community well.
Unfortunately, at least some of the private self-financing engineering colleges do not have the bottomline requirements — lack of infrastructure, physical and human; along with the absence of proper academic atmosphere. Some of them had recently given out the notification for sale.
The pathetic side of the story is that, nearly one-third of the students enrolled in many of these private self-financing engineering colleges end up never taking the university degree — they remain Bachelor divorced from Technology (for life). Those without even the basic mathematical sense succeed in sneaking into some of the private self-financing engineering institutions, only to fail all the way accumulating back papers semester after semester. Certainly, the money their parents dish out, by way of loans, nay mortgage, contribute to the overall liquidity and provides employment and business opportunities to many. Beyond that social function, what becomes of the family from which the forlorn student hails is the moot question.
(The writer's email id is asradhakrishnapillai@ yahoo.co.in)
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