The Scholars' Avenue

Promises made a year back:

“The extension work of the existing messes in RK, RP is already in progress and is expected to be over by August 2009. The mess of Patel hall will also be extended and the work will be completed by mid September.  We are planning to build common rooms on the first floor of these halls and the existing common room will be used as an extension of the mess. The target date for completion is June 2010″

“We are planning to construct two new blocks at RP hall each consisting of 32 rooms (96 beds). We plan to complete this job by June 2010.

In RLB Hall, an extension is planned containing approximately 23 rooms, while in SN/ IG we are targeting one more block by June 2010 to accommodate 288 girls in 96 rooms. Work will start shortly.

The construction work of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hall of Residence next to MMM Hall has started. The capacity of the hall is 2000 beds. We will try our best to receive 1000 beds by June 2010.”

Ref: HMC Chairman Interview, “Of double rooms, long queues and overcrowding”, The Scholars’ Avenue, August 17, 2009

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From long mess queues, resembling those at flood relief centres to overcrowded cycle-stands to four students in double occupancy rooms, IIT Kharagpur bears signature to India’s success in implementing family planning measures. And add to it crowded labs, bursting-at-the-seams classrooms, and an ever diminishing teacher to student ratio and the feeling sinks in. 1316 UG first year intake in 2010 vs 790 in 2007. Sigh !

One is but forced to ponder as to what will happen next year when smaller departments with classroom capacities of 25 and less, will have more than 50 students. Department Lab facilities will soon be excessively strained, and for some, like the Ship Drawing Lab with two-meter long drawing tables in the Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, there might simply be no space.

True, constructions have been visible all over the campus (like the new Technology Guest House and other Halls of Residences) for a while, but are they adequate? More ever, have the constructions been true to the deadlines set? Take for example, the HMC Chairman’s assurances to The Scholars’ Avenue last year (Issue dated August 17, 2009, “Of double rooms, long queues and overcrowding”. See box for more.) that the Azad Hall rooftop construction would be completed by December, 2009 and one is but forced to rethink. It was, but a semester late. Add this to the dilemma faced by the SNites where even after sending a sizeable section of first years to MT Hall of Residence for the first time, some of the third years are still to get single rooms. A disparity of sentiments occurred when Post-Graduate students were introduced in some Under-Graduate halls, like RK, RP and LLR, and as expected the move was met with a dose of serious apprehension.

The Scholars’ Avenue caught up with Prof. Kanchan Chowdhury, former chairman of the IIT Teachers’ Association and gained some useful insights into the apprehended fallout of the population boom in Kgp.

TSA: Do you think the increase in the number of students will affect the quality of teaching?

KC: I personally feel that unless there is an eyeball-to-eyeball contact between the student and the teacher, the teaching cannot be made effective. The best class-size, according to me, is 40. Also, it goes without saying that with the increase in the number of students, the quality of teaching would go down. Now, in a country such as ours, where there is already a dearth of good faculty, if the administration desires to maintain this ratio, it has to lower the quality bar while hiring teachers and professors, thereby leading to a decrease in the teaching and research quality, in the short and long term.

TSA: Is it possible for the Director to take a stand against the MHRD policies?

KC: The Director is appointed by the MHRD for implementing its policies. It is not practical even to suggest to him to take a stand against MHRD policy. It may be recalled that in the decision of increasing the number of students and opening of new IITs, all the major institutions of Indian democracy, namely, Ministry of HRD, Union Cabinet, Parliament and Supreme Court were involved. They must have taken these decisions keeping in mind the billion plus people that they represent. Directors are not in a position to protest or undo such major national policy. The problems that the students are facing have been factored in by the government, but have been dismissed as dispensable in the light of the “greater good” of the nation.

TSA: Do you perceive a decline in the brand value of the institute in the near future?

KC: Brand is a cumulative effect of good teaching, good research and assured performance of the graduates in their work-place. It is also derived from the exclusivity of the product. It is obvious that the policy makers did not care about the dilution of brand IIT because they had other priorities, such as bringing IIT education to a larger number of students. Loss of exclusivity and deterioration of quality of interaction between teachers and the students are bound to hurt brand IIT. Around 1500 students used to clear the JEE during my time. Now you have as many students coming to this institute alone.

TSA: Do you see a lack of planning in the implementation of the MHRD policies?

KC:Yes, this increase (both in student intake and opening of new IITs) ought to have been done slowly and methodically, in phases, over years, keeping all parameters such as infrastructure and teaching quality intact. Unfortunately, in India, we are always in a 5-years planning mode, and hence are not accustomed to long term planning that developed countries pursue. Increasing the number of students before putting the infrastructure in place has definitely led to deterioration of quality of life and education at IITs. This had long been apprehended by all concerned– in India and abroad. It is unfortunate that students are clubbed 4-in-a-room and have to go to overcrowded classes in the morning cycling through the crowded roads without having proper breakfast because the mess is jam-packed. The heart of the problem lies in the fact that we are Indian.