Khichdi - AICTE New Norms for Engineering

 

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Last week AICTE came up with a new rule that now you do not need Physics and Mathematics for doing Engineering. Later they clarified that it was only meant for some of the courses like Textile Engineering, Agriculture Engineering and Biotech. As if this was not enough confusion, they have come up with a rule that state government can have a final say in the implementation of these rules. Being an engineering graduate, I know how important maths and physics are for engineering and taking away these subject from "Must" to "Optional" is a clear mockery of technical education.

AICTE came up with an argument that students can opt from 14 subjects and if they qualify in any 2 subjects of their choice they can be eligible for engineering. This will have 2 adverse impacts. 

1) It will increase the burden on Technical education which is already crammed up. Every year we produce close to 8 lakhs engineers in this country and in a hope of getting a better future because of the perception that Engineering = Jobs (which is far away from the truth). There are 14 lakh seats available for undergraduate, 11 lakh seats for diploma and 1.8 lakh for postgraduate courses. However, only 7 lakh have joined undergraduate programmes. Around 518 engineering colleges were closed between 2015 and 2019. AICTE has decided not to give permission to open an engineering college till 2022.

So, there arises a question. On one hand Govt. is restricting the opening of new colleges and on the other hand, it is making it easier for any Tom, Dick and Harry to get into Engineering. Is it just to promote STEM education to the youth or is there a vested interest in filling up the vacant 6 lakhs seat of these private institutes? I will leave that to your judgment.

2) It will put an additional burden on students. Mathematics is the bedrock on which engineering stands. It's not just a subject that will come in a couple of semesters, its the tool which you will be using in around 60% of your 48 odd subjects. Apart from this, you will be studying complex mathematics like advance calculus, statistics, theory of complex variables etc. How can a student who have not covered the basic topics of calculus, algebra etc, will be able to cope up with all these big subjects? It will demoralize him/her and he/she will either drop out of the program or will pay (bribe) for getting pass, chances of later is more likely. 

In any case, students will be at loss. Colleges will make more money, Govt. will get more tax and some brownie points for there Literacy Index, which they will boast but the student will suffer, both financially and emotionally. According to the report published by AICTE, 50 per cent of seats were lying vacant in the academic year 2019-20. This despite of the students who score zero marks in entrance exams can secure admission at engineering institutes. As more and more unskilled graduates will be produced, it will escalate the issue of unemployment.

Maybe the intention of Govt. is correct but the ambiguity in the norms and lack of structured approach/ roadmap to implement this policy might turn out to be counter-productive. At last, I would say that think wisely before making any decision. 

Ciao!

RR

Challenges of Online Education

Now, online education is getting popularity and lots of students go for online learning for education to save their both time and money. In recent times, many online learning portals have started to educate the youth but still, there are some cases where online learning is lacking.

Here are some of the challenges:

Recognition of certificates: There are some online portals that provide online certificates that are not valid and hence students don’t get deserved benefits from online classes. In some cases, online learning centers dupe students in the name of inexpensive studies. Moreover, many of these certificates are not formally recognized in our Indian education system which poses a serious question on the usage of these certificates.

Peer Learning: This is also a reason that online classes don’t get much appreciation as compared to classroom studies. In a class, you get a studious environment and also a good experience of studying together. Several studies shows that children below 12 learn better when the study together in a group.

More Screen Time: If you study online then you have to invest at least 10 hours per week on each online course. These courses mostly need a greater amount of assignments and reading than traditional classes. This leads to students spending more time on-screen which is taking a toll on their health.

So, we can say that maybe people are more attractive to online education but still traditional classes are considered more effective. We are more habitual to the traditional method of education and it will take more time to adjust to the online learning education system.

 

Ciao!

Mirage of News

In the time of “Breaking News” we have lost touch with reality. We are continually being bombarded by pieces of information that are beyond our capacity to process in a normal working condition. This has caused a serious issue with our attention span. We want everything quickly, from food to entertainment to news, everything should be just a click away. To meet this demand, certain groups have started spreading sensational misinformation. A term is in vogue to define the type of information, known as Fake News.

So what is Fake news? Fake news refers to false information published under the guise of being authentic news. Fake news website and channels push their fake news content in an attempt to mislead consumers of the content and spread misinformation via social networks and word of mouth. These are masterfully crafted and manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread online to the targeted audience. The relevance of fake news has increased in post-truth politics.

Nowadays, both social media and mainstream media allows the spread of falsified or incorrect information that may conflict with actual and true facts. People often tend to believe in whatever they read or see on social media without questioning its authenticity. The habit of reading newspaper and books has witnessed a decline and we have started using shortcuts for gathering information without any authentic evidence. Social media platforms have become a new centre of knowledge (misinformation) sharing for example “WhatsApp University”, and sometimes some mainstream media also picked up on these fake information. Recently I saw in the news, that people started trending #boycottspiderman because Tom Holland said something which upset the ruling party followers. These “bhakts” did not even bother to cross-check whether it was the same person or not. It turned out that Tom Holland who twitted was a historian, not the actor, I was LMAO. It's funny, but if we look into this matter deeply then we will observe an upsetting condition. The combination of fake news and rapid information crunching has hampered out critical thinking. We are always in defensive mode, always react to react before understanding, to quarrel instead of debating and it's unhealthy for a democratic society. Its impact can be understood by an incident in which a vigilante group lynched two Sadhus and their driver in Maharashtra. The incident was fueled by WhatsApp rumours, about thieves operating in the area, during the countrywide lockdown due to the coronavirus. The vigilante group of villagers had mistaken the three passengers as thieves and killed them. Who is responsible for all this? We cannot single out social media as the antagonist. It’s just a technology/tool which is facilitating the hidden agendas of the few. Today, we can see a unique marriage between social media algorithms, advertising agencies, corporates, politicians and people prepared to make kinds of stuff up to earn some easy cash.

So it’s time that we should take an ounce of responsibility and try to cross-check the authenticity of the news. Even if it's shared on WhatsApp group, ask the person who shared the message about the source of this information. The government has also realized the gravity of this issue and are coming up with new Social Media Guidelines & Rules to curb this monster. In the meantime, check the source, examine the evidence, look for doctored images, develop a critical mindset and learn to RESPOND instead of Reacting.

Ciao!