Survey finds lack of quality IT education in Pune

PUNE: The information technology scene in Pune appears to be quite hunky dory with several colleges offering IT courses affiliated to the University. A recent survey however, finds serious lacunae in the quality of education. A high-powered committee set up by the University of Pune to review the quality of BCS courses offered by several affiliated colleges has found the teaching quality poor.

The report submitted to Vice Chancellor Ashok Kolaskar last month stated that a majority of colleges either had `under-qualified teachers’ or were only hiring part time lecturers resulting in lack of continuity and consistency. This has put at stake the future of several students who have lined up for the BCS degree that would give them a break in the IT industry.

The committee, which inspected 54 colleges out of 57 colleges selected found that less than 10 per cent of the colleges paid their teachers salaries as per the fifth pay commission. It reported that teachers employed on a part time basis killed motivation. They left at short notice for better paying jobs and students were subjected to different teachers for the same subjects, resulting in inconsistent performances.

The committee also noted that the overall requirement of the institutes running the courses is about 400 NET/SET qualified teachers. Instead, in this year’s SET examination held in January, only three teachers from North Maharashtra University of Jalgaon cleared the test. City colleges have been known to allow 80 students per division. Last year, there were 89 centers offering the course but only 60 were able to actually start the course.

This year, the number is less than 50. The committee has recommended that the university must ensure that the institute appoints well-qualified teachers, offer attractive pay packages to attract teachers trained in IITs or other quality institutes.