Medal tally belies common notion?
HAS THE standard of education in government engineering colleges gone down or is it that only private engineering colleges are imparting quality education? If the list of recipients of gold and silver medals of the UP Technical University (UPTU) were any indication, private engineering colleges of the State are far ahead government colleges.
…that govt engineering colleges produce better students vis-à-vis the private. UPTU’s medals keep rolling into private colleges kitty

HAS THE standard of education in government engineering colleges gone down or is it that only private engineering colleges are imparting quality education? If the list of recipients of gold and silver medals of the UP Technical University (UPTU) were any indication, private engineering colleges of the State are far ahead government colleges.
Of the 29 gold and silver medals distributed at the UPTU’s fourth convocation on Wednesday to toppers of various courses, only six went to government engineering college students and the rest to students of private colleges. This has given rise to the debate whether private colleges were better than government colleges.
The debate is rooted in the fact that when those scoring highest mark in the State Entrance Examinations (SEE)—the qualifying examination to get into UPTU—opt for government engineering colleges, how come over a period of four years it is students of private colleges who come out with flying colours and notch away maximum gold and silver medals.
When contacted, UPTU officials stated that performance of students was no indicator of the performance of any college. “About 95 per cent of the total engineering colleges were private, hence they had a bigger student-base compared to government colleges,” said VK Singh controller of examination, UPTU.
Yet another official explained that government engineering colleges were far better than private colleges any day. “It’s always students of government colleges who get a better package while in the case of private colleges only few students are fortunate enough to get a good pay package. So, it is the package that should determine the performance of colleges and not the number of medals,” he said. Intellectual capital of the government colleges is still far better than of the private colleges. The comprehension of government college students on any given topic is far better than private college students, it is perceived.
An official of a government engineering college said that in private colleges teachers were interested more in ensuring that their students secured good marks. “But, the teachers there are not really concerned whether students have grasped the subject properly or not,” the teacher remarked.
Another teacher of a government engineering college said, “It is likely that private colleges award high marks to students in the session tests (internal examinations). This helps them score over students of government colleges.
According to a UPTU official, they still rate government colleges in the top rank in their official website which reflects that they are better than passouts of private colleges.

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