[Assam] Article on engineering college by J. Kalita

[chittaranjan pathak]

Dear Shrri Jugal Kalita
  Congratulations to you and the co-authors- excellent article as suggestions are very pragmatic and doable. 
  From your article, if I understood correctly, the basic thrust is to produce significant number of engineering graduates to be at par with other states. Number of engineering colleges is a  corollary based on some assumed intake. Upgrade of existing ITI and diploma institutes spread all over Assam is an excellent idea and should be pursued immediately. Also at the same time while dwelling on this approach of establishing new colleges, immediate step should be to over-saturate the intake capacity of the existing two state engineering colleges. With an incremental expenditure this can be easily achieved. Also more B.Tech courses should be introduced in Tezpur university. And at the same time during this conversion spree of existing polytechnics, new ones should be created at more remote sites.
  Just a small thought on the staggering number of new engineering colleges-I think it is better not to scare the wits out of Assam government representative by saying a huge number of engineering colleges will be required. Instead of say 10 engineering colleges at X millions per college for an intake of 300 per college requiring 10X millions, another option could be having one or two single mega engineering college for say 2000-3000 student intake. Cost will surely not be 10X but may be 2 or 3 X. Just a question of balancing cost versus local aspiration to have a college at neighborhood. Your suggestion of conversion of existing diploma institutes will any way lead to an equitable distribution of engineering colleges through out the state. We have seen how lackadaisical the state government has been in running its two existing engineering colleges. On the other hand central government colleges like NIT, NERIST may not fulfill the “number” demand as only a small % of seats
 will be reserved for the state. An example is NERIST which must have produced more Bengali graduates than Arunachalis. Similarly private engineering colleges will appeal to only a certain section of the society due to higher fee structure.  For the general people of Assam, new state engineering colleges with transparent admission policies offer the best hope. Establishing one mega engineering college like Jadavpur university (which has an undergraduate engineering intake of around 1000 students) at central location like Guwahati or Nowgaon and additional normal size engineering colleges at other places in Assam should be the way to go.  
   
  Only request is that this good article should reach those who are in a position to take things forward.
   
  Regards
   
  Chittaranjan Pathak
   
  PS- Thanks to Umesh for letting us know that authors have made a forceful presentation to CM. Secondly a copy be forwarded to Education minister Ripun Bora and DTE and VCs of  Tezpur/Guwahati/Dibrugarh universities.
   

       
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