TIRUNELVELI: The state health department has formed a committee to probe the flurry of complaints received by Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi about the poor quality of teaching at the 11 newest state medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. Bedi on Monday forwarded the students’ complaints to the deans of these medical college hospitals and the Director of Medical Education and Research instructing them to monitor teaching standards.
In the petition sent to Bedi, first-year students at these colleges alleged that their teachers were merely condensing chapters into PowerPoint presentations and reading them out in class, forcing the pupils to purchase online video lectures to help them clear the exams.
In the recent petition, which was also sent to Chief Minister MK Stalin and Health Minister Ma Subramanian, several first-year students said they were undergoing a lot of stress due to academic issues, but could not come forward to seek help as they feared backlash from college authorities. They urged the department to permit them to opt for self-study and alleged there was no transparency in the marking of attendance by the teachers.
“We have to learn three subjects in first year — anatomy, physiology and biochemistry — which form the basis of the MBBS and require plenty of time to learn and revise. However, most of our teachers condense whole chapters into slides, and often give wrong explanations. Instead of using either Tamil or English during lectures, they mix both languages and make no sense. They tell us that they will be paid by the government, no matter whether they teach us or not,” the petition read.
The students further alleged that plenty of time is wasted in the poor lectures and claimed that teachers described a perfunctory short speech as a lecture.
‘Practical exams are outdated’
“The teachers are galloping to complete the syllabi, conduct tests for internal assessments and finish their jobs. They are least concerned about us understanding or learning the portions.
Moreover, we are given ineffective assignments, and very few students are able to pass the internal exams,” the students claimed. The petitioners alleged that the practical examinations conducted by their teachers are outdated. TN IE attempted to contact teachers of the said institutions, but they refused to comment on the matter.