Hyderabad: Though the Centre and the state government are encouraging skill-based and job-oriented courses, experts say that the quality of faculty and teachers does not meet expectations.
According to education experts, the mushrooming of colleges has led to shortage of quality teachers. “Teachers recruited to skill the students are themselves not fully equipped. Training the teachers is an important aspect to improve the quality of education.” said Prof. N.V. Ramana Rao, director, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal.
He said “More faculty development programmes (FDPs) should be conducted and participation of teachers should be made mandatory. Appropriately structured mechanisms are needed at all levels to impart skills.”
Teachers say that their working conditions are responsible for some of them being poorly skilled.
Prof. Battu Satyanarayana, president, Osmania University Teachers Association (OUTA), said, “In every university or college, more than 60 per cent of teachers are working on contract. Permanent teachers need to be recruited and trained.”
He said teachers in universities were overloaded, making it impossible to develop skills. “Everyone is talking about theoretical skills but no one is taking steps to improve the skills of the teachers.” Prof. Satyanarayana said, “There are no teachers to teach regular teachers, particularly in TS.”
Other state governments were retaining teachers by enhancing the age limit but the TS government had not done so, he said.
The Union human resources development ministry’s proposal, making a doctorate mandatory to recruit university teachers by 2021, would surely help improve the quality of teachers. “Once qualified teachers are recruited, they can adapt to the new technologies and can also teach the students,” Prof. Satyanarayana said.
Mr Sujiv Nair, chief executive officer, Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) said, “Getting skilled teachers is one of the biggest challenges.” He said TASK had trained more than 3,000 faculty members in the FDP. “When we deliver programmes like SAP, Oracle, Java etc. we ensure that the faculty is trained to become a master trainer, who in turn trains the students. So skilling the faculty is very important,” he said.
TASK helps corporates get trained graduates
The Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) has trained over 2 lakh youth and faculty since its inception, said chief executive officer Sujiv Nair.
The academy extends employment assistance to students who trained with it; 7,000 candidates have secured employment with various organisations, he said.
TASK collaborates with reputed technology organisations and extends those courses to its registered colleges and students.
The registered students will be trained by master trainers from TASK, faculty members of engineering colleges who are trained by TASK and by company trainers or company authorised third-party trainers.
Mr Nair said 520 colleges in the state had registered registered with TASK, including 155 engineering colleges, 141 degree colleges, 109 PG colleges, 66 polytechnics, 35 oharmacy and 15 MBA colleges
He said TASK programmes help corporates gain access to a pool of trained graduates for suitable roles. “Our students are trained extensively in latest technology to help companies find the right candidate. We forge partnerships with colleges to create environs conducive for growth through faculty development, research pilots and help colleges provide quality education for the leaders of tomorrow with focused systematic programme.”
