BENGALURU: On the occasion of teacher’s day, the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering that is celebrating its centenary year, will felicitate 160 of its past and present tutors who helped the institute become what it is today. One of the foremost educators in the state and the principal of the college, K R Venugopal has been with the UVCE for 45 years. He first entered UVCE as a 18-year old student of the then electrical engineering department. Only one of the two institutes in the entire state was offering the course then. He then joined the faculty of the college and set up the computer science department. Set for retirement in the next six months Venugopal has had fond memories as a student but mostly as an educator.
“I passed out in 1974 and all the teachers during that time were good and dedicated and close to every student. Classes would start at 7am and teachers would come in their cycles. I remember the teachers knowing a student not only by name but even their handwriting. In case of absence, a teacher would even know the reason. I do not see the same level of dedication among teachers in today’s age.We did not have computers or tabs then. The chalk and board were the only and most powerful tools,” says Venugopal.
The teachers and the principals of his time would have a dress code of a dhoti and the traditional headwear, the peta. “In fact, all the principals till around the 70s would still wear the peta. Many after that starting wearing suits. I am more comfortable in a shirt and pant,” he says.
Venugopal has seen a gradual change in computer technology in the 1970s and then rapid changes in the 80s and 90s and adapted himself to teach his students. “The field of computing has gone through widespread changes since the time I studied and taught. Many of my students are earning much more than me and are placed in some of the top institutions in the world. But there is a sense of contentment that money can’t buy.”