GUWAHATI, June 22 - An interactive meet involving science college teachers organised at the IIT Guwahati as an outreach initiative of IIT-G recently underscored the urgent necessity to delink higher secondary (classes XI and XII) from the ambit of college curriculum, since it imposes a large teaching load on each member of the faculty, thereby having a detrimental effect on the research career of individuals which might reflect adversely on the academic performance indicators (API) scores.
The need for a revision in the existing course curriculum is also felt by a few faculty members. A possibility of organising teachers� development programmes apart from the refresher and orientation courses, was emphasised at the meet.
A total 30 faculty members from eight colleges of greater Kamrup area participated.
Besides members from the science departments of IIT Guwahati, dignitaries such as Prof A Goswami, former principal of Cotton College and Prof DJ Saikia, Vice Chancellor of Cotton University, were present. They elaborated on the status of science education in colleges and the prospects of improvement lying therein.
It was found that some of the colleges, including Cotton University, Pub Kamrup College and others have been doing well in terms of their students being placed in different institutions of national repute.
�The discussions were stimulating and looked upon as a positive step taken towards some of the crucial issues linked with the science education of the State,� an IIT spokesperson said.
The Dean of Outreach Education Programme Prof Saurabh Basu in his opening remarks, pointed out the lack of participation and success of the students from Assam and the north-eastern region at large in national-level exams such as JAM, GATE, NET, JEST, etc.
�The distinct pattern of questions that are asked in board exams vis-�-vis the ones that come in the national-level exams is thought to be the main cause for low turnout of students in IITs and other national institutes of repute. As a remedy, it was suggested to have training camps organised for students from different colleges to motivate and help them in preparing for the national level exams and other competitive exams,� he said.
Further, the necessity of summer internship programmes for students in various colleges and IIT to impart exposure and awareness was deliberated upon at the meeting. Also, modalities to facilitate interaction among the college teachers and exchange of resources among the colleges were discussed.
Prof Basu asserted that IIT Guwahati remains committed to all such endeavours.
Dr Sidananda Sarma, Technical Officer of the Department of Physics, IIT Guwahati, presented an overview on the funding opportunities for developing teaching infrastructure from different sponsoring agencies. Approaching the corporate houses for CSR funds was mentioned in this regard.
Prof SN Bora, Professor and HoD of the mathematics department of IIT Guwahati, laid stress on training programmes that were being regularly organised for students and enrichment programmes for teachers by the Department of Mathematics, IIT Guwahati. He also emphasised the usage of good textbooks in the college curriculum which would lay the foundation for solid understanding of the concepts.
