Students prefer Engineering course in contrast to Polytechnic education

Updated on: Wednesday, November 07, 2012

For every five students who join engineering courses, there is only one student who takes up polytechnic education. The ideal ratio of student intake, however, is three students in polytechnic for one student joining engineering education.

The contrast has been highlighted in a note on reforms in polytechnics put up for consideration by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) at its meeting to be held on Thursday.

"Polytechnics suffer from a skewed ratio of student intake," the note says, while pointing out that the oversupply from engineering institutions and undersupply from polytechnic institutions has led to students who graduate as engineers finding employment as technicians.

The ratio is also an outcome of the growth of the Indian economy in the last few decades with the services sector outperforming the manufacturing sector, the note said. "Engineering education is viewed as offering greater opportunities for employment in such scenario than the polytechnics, which have not been able to re-orient to the emerging workforce requirements of the service sector-led economic growth," it said. This calls for efforts to change the quality and image of polytechnics, it added.

Over the years, the polytechnic sector has diversified from offering three-year generalised courses in conventional subjects like civil, electrical and mechanical engineering to electronics, computer science, information technology and other engineering branches. The sector recorded a significant growth during the XI Five-Year Plan period (2007-2012).

As of now, there are 3,224 polytechnics across the country with a total capacity of 12 lakh seats. Of this, 80% seats are for courses related to engineering and technology. A total of 2,204 institutions are in the private unaided sector, the CABE note stated. "Maharashtra has 415 polytechnics and almost 80% of these are private unaided institutions," said Shridhar Vaidya, secretary of the Teachers Association for Non-Aided Polytechnics.

In the last two years, the AICTE has taken up initiatives aimed at increasing the capacity in polytechnic sector. This includes raising the student intake from 180 to 300 per course, tuition fee waiver for 5% supernumerary seats for economically weaker sections, lateral entry to polytechnics from the industrial training institutes, permission for second shift polytechnics in degree colleges and existing polytechnics, conduct of modular courses for skills during evening hours in polytechnics and recognition of experienced polytechnic teachers for appointment in degree colleges.

Students prefer Engineering course in contrast to Polytechnic education

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