Engineering graduates would rather not teach

Awale, who is also the Head of the Bureau of Technical Education which monitors the functioning of all IITs, IIMs, Regional Engineering Colleges RECs and polytechnics, spoke for over an hour on the critical issues facing engineering teachers at a function organised by the Engineering Education Foundation. He called for a blueprint on the recruitment policy among all IITs, RECs and polytechnics put together.

Can the final or post-graduate engineering student teach while learning, can we as teachers create a positive image of the teaching profession, can we give them credit for teaching and can we do away with the conventional selection process so that we can pick and choose among the best, were a few queries put forth by Awale who recently worked on Problems of Engineering Teachers8217; and obtained his PhD from IIT, New Delhi.

Several teachers who joined the colleges way back in the 608217;s and 708217;s are retiring and the exodus has already begun, Awale said questioning whether the system was fully geared to attract the best talent in the teaching faculty. He also called for providing meaningful training to the faculty. Earlier Prof N V Ratnalikar, President of the Foundation said the organisation was planning to widen its field of activity by establishing an Indian Institute of Engineering Education and an Indian resource centre on engineering education in the city.