One in three tech institutes submitted false data for AICTE approval | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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One in three tech institutes submitted false data for AICTE approval

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By, New Delhi
Apr 21, 2017 08:28 AM IST

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) conducted a surprise inspection of 311 institutes, finding major discrepancies in the information provided, such as the number of faculty, the building and other infrastructure, and laboratories.

One-third of engineering and technical institutes were caught submitting fraudulent data related to number of staff, students, laboratories, infrastructure to get approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), sources said.

A number of students who graduate from such technical institutes are lack requisite skills in the job market and do not meet industry standards.(Virendra Singh Gosain/HT File Photo)
A number of students who graduate from such technical institutes are lack requisite skills in the job market and do not meet industry standards.(Virendra Singh Gosain/HT File Photo)

According to officials, the regulator conducted surprise inspection of a total of 311 institutes and major discrepancies were found in 89 institutes which were given approval by the AICTE last year.

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Sources said that major penalty will be imposed on these institutions and in many cases it will lead to closure of the institution too.

Last year, approximately 10,000 institutes including polytechnics were granted approval by AICTE. “The Council decided to conduct surprise inspections to the tune of 3% throughout the country. Further expert committees visit were also conducted,” said a senior official. The issue was taken up in the Council meeting held last week and it was found that most institutes have inflated the faculty figures to get approval. In a few cases, laboratories are present only on papers.

Recently, AICTE had posted information on its website about 279 fake technical institutes and Delhi had emerged as the fake Capital with 66 colleges -- the highest for any state in India. These institutes were running courses without the regulator’s permission. Simply put, these schools don’t have the authority to grant degrees. Education certificates issued by such colleges are nothing but a piece of paper.

Sources said a number of these institutes have submitting false information about the number of faculty, the building and other infrastructure, laboratories among others to get an approval from AICTE. 

“Quality is becoming a major issue with technical institutes and to ensure institutes comply with it surprise inspections were carried out. Strict action will be taken against these institutes and in future too AICTE will go harsh on those found submitting fraudulent data to get approvals,” said a senior official.

Quality of engineering institutes which produces over seven lakh students annually has become a major concern for the HRD ministry as only 40% of them get job placements.  “The low employability is attributed as much to the lack of requisite skills as well as to the falling demand from the industry. A number of students take admission in the institutes and are unable to learn new skills due to poor standards of teaching and lack of infrastructure too. For instance, many of these institutes don’t even have a proper laboratory. The surprise inspection helped us take stock of that and similar inspections will become the norm to ensure quality is not compromised,” said a senior HRD official.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Neelam Pandey covers education sector and gender issues for Hindustan Times. She is a policy wonk with a keen interest in politics.

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