A leaf out of Andhra’s
book
Taking
a cue from the Andhra Pradesh Government, the State Government is planning
to set up a board on the lines of the Andhra Pradesh Technical Education
Board which lays down guidelines for computer institutes in the State.
The Andhra board has been formed on the lines of the All-India Technical
Education Board.
Officials said a team of
experts had been sent to Andhra to study the existing system there.
The team, on its return, is said to have submitted its report.
The council for technical
education in Andhra has been empowered to grant recognition to computer
classes. It decides the fee structure, syllabus, selection criteria
of faculty and the number of students per class.
Officials said the Gujarat
Government had decided to form a similar Board for computer classes
based on the team’s report. Besides, he said the Government had also
decided to form a committee, which would be asked to recommend methods
of implementing a uniform pattern for computer classes in the State.
An official said
the State Government wanted to recognise computer classes, besides fixing
syllabi for different computer courses. Officials said the government
would also prescribe the strength of students for each batch, fee structure,
along with course duration.
Officials said that at
present the Government does not have any control over these institutes.
Consequently, fees, course duration etc in the institutes greatly vary.
For example, while a particular course would be of two months duration
in one institute, it would take three months at another. Moreover, it
has been noticed that most classes, rather than induct full-time faculty,
recruit students who have cleared the entire computer course as teachers.
Officials said with e-commerce
and Internet becoming popular and info towers being started in the State,
more and more students were opting for computer classes. With the
increasing demand, computer classes too were proliferating, he said.
Admitting there was a move
to give recognition to computer classes, Minister of State for Higher
and Technical Education Bharat Barot said a team had visited Andhra
Pradesh and also submitted its report. He said the Government has decided
to form a committee to work out the modalities.
Officials said this would
help the State cater to the needs of the industry by providing well-trained
personnel. Officials said a similar move had been mooted by the Shankersinh
Vaghela Government, which had attempted to control the mushrooming tuition
classes. The then Government had issued a notification asking tuition
classes to register themselves with the District Education Officer.
Guidelines were also laid down for teachers in these classes. However,
the managements of the tuition classes used their political clout and
prevented the notification from getting tabled in the Assembly. An agitation
was also launched against the government move.
With several computer class
owners having strong political connections, the official expressed apprehension
of running into similar roadblocks.
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