Teachers, learn your lessons well
Students of degree engineering and polytechnic colleges will rate their teachers on how good or bad they are. Pilot project initiated at Govt Engineering College, Gandhinagar
Yogesh Avasthi
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Wednesday, February 06, 2013 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201302062013020602174737649645eb1/Teachers-learn-your-lessons-well.html
Engineering teachers who have not kept pace with the changing times and fail to upgrade their skills as per the requirements, beware! No more will teachers of government degree engineering and polytechnic colleges be able to continue with their outdated methods of teaching and rest assured on their past laurels. Their own students will now wield the power to evaluate how good or bad they are. The Commissionerate of Technical Education has prepared a student’s feedback form whereby every student will grade the teachers of various subjects on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being at the bottom considered ‘poor’ and 5 on the top as ‘excellent’.
Various parameters have been decided upon: the students have to say if the faculty has good knowledge of the subject; if he/she is able to convey the concepts with enough examples, if they clear students’ doubts, make their lectures interesting and are punctual. There are separate sections for students to give suggestions to teachers and the head of department. Moreover, they will also be asked on the two best things about their college and two things that can be improved upon. All these, the students can answer by remaining anonymous. The feedback will be kept confidential, assure authorities. The purpose of the entire exercise is to bring about a positive change in the system.
For the past some time, students and their parents have been complaining over the lack of facilities and faculty at some of these colleges. Their main grouse: teachers have not been keeping pace with latest technology and continue with their old method of teaching, which affects the learning of students who look up to their teachers to enhance their knowledge. There are 16 government degree engineering colleges and 26 government polytechnics in the state. A total of 3,500 teachers in degree and diploma colleges cater to around 1.3 lakh students. According to Commissioner of Technical Education T Natarajan, “The new student grading and evaluation form will be incorporated in all government degree engineering and polytechnic colleges from the new semester. This will help us solve the students’ problems and better the skills of the teachers.”
PILOT PROJECT STARTED
A pilot project of the evaluation system was begun at Government Engineering College, Gandhinagar. Over a month ago, students of the college were asked to fill the form. Based on their feedback, the technical education department is consulting experts on how to fine-tune the form before implementing it in other colleges. Initially, feedback would be taken on paper, but subsequently an online feedback form will be put in place, technical education sources said. Buoyed by the new proposition, Mayur Kanjaria, a semester 8 student of IT at L D Engineering College, said, “This feedback will sort out a lot of problems that students face. It will also help improve the standard of education.”
Mayur Koshti, fourth semester student of EC at Government Engineering College in Godhra was more forthright, “Many of things, good or bad, that students are unable to convey to the authorities will come out. The grading will not only help improve the interaction with teachers, but also better the quality of education.” However, the teachers are circumspect. Gujarat Technical Teachers Association President M H Lunagaria said, “We have not been informed about the project, nor were we taken into confidence. All the teachers are well-qualified and have been appointed only after they have cleared GPSC. Many a time, the students are unable to grasp what a teacher says, resulting in wrong evaluation of a teacher. This would be detrimental to the teacher.”
Various parameters have been decided upon: the students have to say if the faculty has good knowledge of the subject; if he/she is able to convey the concepts with enough examples, if they clear students’ doubts, make their lectures interesting and are punctual. There are separate sections for students to give suggestions to teachers and the head of department. Moreover, they will also be asked on the two best things about their college and two things that can be improved upon. All these, the students can answer by remaining anonymous. The feedback will be kept confidential, assure authorities. The purpose of the entire exercise is to bring about a positive change in the system.
For the past some time, students and their parents have been complaining over the lack of facilities and faculty at some of these colleges. Their main grouse: teachers have not been keeping pace with latest technology and continue with their old method of teaching, which affects the learning of students who look up to their teachers to enhance their knowledge. There are 16 government degree engineering colleges and 26 government polytechnics in the state. A total of 3,500 teachers in degree and diploma colleges cater to around 1.3 lakh students. According to Commissioner of Technical Education T Natarajan, “The new student grading and evaluation form will be incorporated in all government degree engineering and polytechnic colleges from the new semester. This will help us solve the students’ problems and better the skills of the teachers.”
PILOT PROJECT STARTED
A pilot project of the evaluation system was begun at Government Engineering College, Gandhinagar. Over a month ago, students of the college were asked to fill the form. Based on their feedback, the technical education department is consulting experts on how to fine-tune the form before implementing it in other colleges. Initially, feedback would be taken on paper, but subsequently an online feedback form will be put in place, technical education sources said. Buoyed by the new proposition, Mayur Kanjaria, a semester 8 student of IT at L D Engineering College, said, “This feedback will sort out a lot of problems that students face. It will also help improve the standard of education.”
Mayur Koshti, fourth semester student of EC at Government Engineering College in Godhra was more forthright, “Many of things, good or bad, that students are unable to convey to the authorities will come out. The grading will not only help improve the interaction with teachers, but also better the quality of education.” However, the teachers are circumspect. Gujarat Technical Teachers Association President M H Lunagaria said, “We have not been informed about the project, nor were we taken into confidence. All the teachers are well-qualified and have been appointed only after they have cleared GPSC. Many a time, the students are unable to grasp what a teacher says, resulting in wrong evaluation of a teacher. This would be detrimental to the teacher.”
