Do Indian engg colleges kill students' innovative skills?

While Silicon Valley is talking about its third wave of innovation like the touchscreen revolution; to develop renewable energy and other clean, green technologies – Cleantech, an Indian engineering student is still in doldrums either to focus on getting good marks in examination or take the risk of experimenting with his idea. This is because Indian engineering colleges still assess students’ skills based on their ability to repeat the text- book knowledge in the exams, rather than on their ability to think ‘out-of-box.’ Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Head of Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Chennai says, “Education system is one cog in the wheel, which affects students to a certain level.”

Even Professor K Gopinath, Computer Science & Automation (CSA), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore believes that that India’s education system kills the spirit of innovation among students by not letting them to illustrate their skills at university level. He says, “There is no sufficient ecosystem or technological artifacts for students in colleges.” He explains that these engineering students are not given the right platform to implement their skills and the freedom to access or play with devices.

Further pinpointing the quality of education standard in Indian engineering colleges, the Professor says, “Many Indian engineering colleges hire those engineers as lecturers, who didn’t get a job in the market and are willing to work for a significantly lower salary. They have only theoretical knowledge and that is the best that they can impart to students. And finally, the students aren’t encouraged to go deep into a subject because the teachers are incapable of supporting the students’ queries.” He also opines that there a majority of colleges in India, which are inclined only towards the business of making money and not in the business of building knowledgeable engineers.