As many as 38 capacity-building programmes for 2,039 faculty and 83 principals are being conducted during the academic years 2021-23 in a bid to provide quality education to polytechnic students and help improve their skills in accordance with the rapid advancement in the industrial sector, Director of Technical Education Chadalavada Nagarani tells K Kalyan Krishna Kumar in an interview. Recently, the State government also conducted Poly Tech Fest-2022 for diploma students. Competitions with prize money of Rs 10L were held for all branches of both government and private colleges. She elaborated on the latest measures taken by the department to develop polytechnic institutes in the State.
Q. How was the response to the Poly Tech Fest?
This was the first time competitions were conducted with prize money. As a result, the response was very good. We are also planning to organise an event of such a scale every year against once every two years. The ideas received during the fest will be developed in coordination with the AP Innovative Society and patent applications for patents will also be sent. First, of its kind we conducted Techfest-2022
Q: How many courses are being offered to students in polytechnic institutes in the State in 2022-23 AY?
As of now, 25 courses are available for students at 85 government polytechnic colleges, 165 private colleges and one aided college.
Q: What is the status of government polytechnics in providing quality education?
Most of our faculty members have completed PhD, or M Tech, while some have graduated from NITs and IITs. As a result, government polytechnic colleges offer quality education. With an aim to help students adapt to fast-paced changes in the industry sector, we have introduced a faculty development programme. As automation and advanced technology are being widely used in the industrial training programme is also being conducted for the faculty to help the students. They are being sent in phases to industries, Gangavaram Port and Polavaram Irrigation Project site for training.
Q: What steps are being taken to update computers and other lab equipment as they have not been updated for almost 30 years?
The electronic and communication labs were updated to some extent two years ago and work to upgrade labs for other courses has been taken up as well. As CM Jagan has accorded priority to polytechnics, there is a possibility that the contours of these will change soon.
Q: How many polytechnic colleges have the National Board of Accreditation?
Institutes in Kalyana Durgam and Kuppam have NBA and we are trying to get accreditation for 49 other polytechnic colleges. Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy’s desire is to strengthen polytechnics with quality education and to produce skilled employees for the industries.
Q: How is the industrial training programme going on?
There are two programmes: a three-and-a-half-year diploma course and a three-year course. Students opting for the three-and-half-year course have to undergo six-months industrial training, while the other group will have a one-year training programme. Besides, we are planning to conduct short visits to the industries for the students during the course as well.
Q: Apart from conventional courses, how is the intake in other courses on offer?
Seats have been increased in courses like ceramics, textiles and metallurgy. Response to the ceramics course in Guduru and the metallurgy course has always been positive. But this year admissions for metallurgy have dropped. We have observed that students are preferring courses like engineering, computer science, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, while there is a decline in polytechnic courses.
Q: Is it true that diploma holders are getting better placements than B Tech graduates?
In a way, it is true. Jobs are available for over 90% of students who have completed their diploma courses, while those who have completed B Tech after their diploma have the lowest placements.
Q: What is the process of inviting industries to allocate placements for diploma students?
I have visited some companies, including Kia, Apache, Efftronics, Bharat Electronics Limited and Sri City. I have also been in contact with the HR department of all the companies. We have learnt that several companies have a huge requirement for diploma students. After several discussions with industrialists and their representatives, we are going to start industry-oriented courses soon in the State as per the instructions of Buggana Rajendranath Reddy. We will start a three-year course based on industry requirements, besides, certification courses (18 months) for office automation, fire safety, industrial safety, beautification, food processing, AC machines and footwear technology.
Q: What kind of efforts are being made to upskill students as per the requirements of the industry?
We have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with EduSkills to establish six corporate training academies (Cisco Networking Academy, AWS, REDHAT, PALO ALTO, BLUE PRISM, and MOCRO CHIP) in government polytechnic colleges in a phased manner from June 2021. We have also signed an MoU with IIT-Mumbai on Spoken Tutorial to facilitate students to take up online courses relevant to their branch of study. Another deal has been inked with CISCO Systems on February 20, 2021, to offer training programmes on IT Fundamentals and CCNA.
Q: What measures have been taken to develop infrastructure in polytechnic colleges?
A sum of Rs 365.46 crore has been sanctioned for 70 civil works under the auspices of NABARD-RIDF. Of the total, 49 works have already been completed with Rs 218.66 crore and another 19 works are in progress. Meanwhile, Rs 82.84 crore of State plan grants has been sanctioned for 15 civil works. Of the total, five works have been completed by spending Rs 29.35 crore and 10 more works are under progress.
Apart from this, 16 SC hostels are sanctioned and seven of them have been completed, 27 women’s hostels are sanctioned and 26 have been completed. Moreover, we have requested the government to implement the Nadu-Nedu scheme for developing infrastructure at polytechnic institutes.