Technical Education In ‘Deep Trouble’, Lament Experts At Bhubaneswar Meet

Bhubaneswar: A study carried out by  ‘Aspiring Minds’, an employability assessment company, has revealed that more than 90 per cent of engineering graduates in India are unemployable. Most of the graduates, it said, lacked the skill sets that go on to make a good employee in an organisation.

AICTE Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe couldn’t agree more. Speaking at a conference here on Friday, Sahasrabudhe made his frustration clear about the state of technical education. He said that quantity has taken precedence over quality in the country.

He said that while the gross enrollment ratio has reached 26 per cent from 0.7 per cent, no attention has been given to the teaching-learning process.

“The process of learning in educational institution needs to change and the teachers need to know what to teach to the students and how to do it. The problem is we are not addressing the issues that have been stalking the system,” Sahasrabudhe was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

He was addressing the national conference on ‘Crisis in Technical Education’, attended be former AICTE chairman Damodar Acharya and a host of vice-chancellors from universities across the country.

All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) governs technical education in the country.

Sahasrabudhe also came down heavily on the institutes who run classes from KG to PG level, saying such institutions have contributed to the slide in technical education.

However, he voiced his optimism over the upcoming new national policy on education. He said the fundamentals flaws afflicting technical education can greatly be addressed by the new policy.

Sharing his observations, Acharya said technical education was in “deep trouble” in the country. “Exponential growth in its capacity, acute shortage of competent faculty, the inability of the system to produce quality, skilled, competent and employable graduates had seriously eroded the attractiveness of engineering, management, pharmacy and architecture education,” he said.