Engg students fault their teachers

He added, “The teaching profession needs to be more lucrative.” Even the students who had spoken to the five-member university panel probing into the poor pass percentage in 13 affiliated engineering colleges, felt the shortcomings with the teaching faculty are to be blamed. They stated they were forced to take tuitions due to fear of victimisation in the assessment of the term work, while the Vice-Chancellor Dr Snehalata Deshmukh had urged the students to refrain from taking tuitions. The panel’s report is expected to be submitted soon.

The students also submitted to the panel that the teachers were indifferent to feedback from the students, poor teaching quality,biased against non-Maharashtrians and widening of communication gap with teachers. They have urged for refresher courses for teachers.

Speaking at the seminar Prof. S N Nakhare too made similar point. On curriculum, they felt that there are too many unnecessary subjects like chemistry in computer science. “The syllabus is highly theory-oriented with little relevance to the industry.”

The assessment process was also severely criticised. Chirag Doshi, a student from MGM College, felt it is very exam-restricted. They called for more surprise tests, seminars, group discussions, exhibitions, symposia to widen knowledge and promote original thinking. They also called for provision of Internet and email facilities in every college for better exposure to the latest developments in technology.

The dean of technological faculty, Prof S Sundaram, observed that granting of autonomy to engineering colleges which will put the onus of better performance on the institute could make a good beginning for a better tomorrow.