The AICTE a council which was set up by 'the AICTE Act 1987' to monitor and regulate the higher education courses like Engineering, MBA, MCA had recently announced that it will allow Arts & Science courses in the Engineering colleges. Instead of promoting the quality education scenario for the 'Indian student' by utilising the vast number of engineering (3000) & professional colleges, the AICTE had done repercussion by converting the opportunity to learn Engineering education at subsidised fee in to learning Arts & Science education at an hiked fee. Howzzaatt?


This Higher education regulator was earlier involved in various similar controversies for the last few years. Last December 2017, AICTE gave a ruling which removed few lakhs teachers (Professors & APs) from their jobs in engineering & technical institutions by reducing the faculty student ratio from 1:15 to 1:20. AICTE was safeguarding it ruling by announcing that online learning could substantiate the teacher deficiency created by its rule of changing from 1:15 to 1:20. How will virtual presence, substantiate the pupil in gaining physical confidence and moral character which only a dutiful teacher could provide?

When that is the flashback, today (this January 2019) the AICTE allowed the Engineering colleges to operate as Arts & Science colleges. What is the truth and what will be the outcomes of this decision?

Black Economy: Educating or Earning?

Since education is a prolific business that can be operated in the false attire of non profit private education trusts/ NGOs, the trusts earn in millions simply by giving few false account statements tallying their revenues and expenditures. The revenues are shown less and expenditures shown more. Certain grey areas in the legal system help these private education trusts to run such a huge black economy dynasty. If one such trust earns just one crore of black money a year it will account to 10,000 crores of black money by 10,000 institutions. Just imagine the earning of certain trusts earning many crores through registering as an education trust/ NGO.

Reason for poor admissions:

When the student and the parent community had realised the corrupt environment prevailing in private trusts with much less employment opportunities after the completion of degree, the admission of the students went down in colleges. Additionally AICTE was involved in debating and negative-canvassing the quality of Teachers as a reason for the unemployment. Certain discriminative terms such as 'un-employable graduates, bad-teachers, ghost-faculties' were used by the AICTE and MHRD circle in public statements. The perception of parents went down because of this adverse publicity by the AICTE & MHRD. The reduction in 25% teachers also palyed havoc. Unimaginably the students admissions had a sharp decrease after the AICTE changed the FSR from 1:15 to 1:20. The parents and students are still willing to learn engineering & professional degrees even in this scare employment environment. But they would like to get the education cost reduced and made much affordable. Who could deliver such a combination of quality at a subsidised fee? It shall be the Teachers. How?

 PTA or Teachers Cooperative Union:

The teachers could run institutions with much less fee in a fine manner and the students will get attracted to an institution run by a teacher union or a parents-teachers-association (PTA). If student admission is the only concern, then the AICTE should have made a facility to convert the private trust in to a public trust (a cooperative union comprising all the teachers employed in the institution). There are Government companies (100% government), private limited companies (100% private) and Public sector Unions (PSUs) which have shares of both the public and the government. Similar PSUs are not present in education sector even after 70 years of independance. Why?

Private Sector/ Public Sector?

In a democratic nation certain portfolios can be private and certain public. When the portfolio is education both these private and public trusts should coexist. But there is not even a single cooperative society governed institution under the AICTE and AICTE approval process procedures do not allow the same. The AICTE did not allow the teachers to operate the institutions as a cooperative-societies or a parents-teachers asociations (PTA). Instead the AICTE is right behind the associations of private education trusts and desperate to provide a business opportunity for them. When the AICTE had gone far enough to protect the interest of such failing education trusts from closing down, it can only be considered as revelation of the policy statement of the AICTE or the AICTE's constituent (& corrupt) member officials. The AICTE had issued this decision to allow arts & science courses in engineering colleges to aid the private education trust to survive in business and earn by exploiting the public. 

Who is opposing democratic education systems?

If teacher unions and PTA run the institutions they will become a stiff competitiors for the best performing private education trusts. Hence the best performing private education trusts (TIER-I institutions) try to deny any such renaissance in education. Since most of the trusts are owned by politicians either directly or by their benamis, the AICTE get influenced easily. As per those trusts, education is a business and in business there are only two sections of people: the seller and the buyer. This simple classification of people allow the college trustees belonging to various political parties, religion, region, caste, communities  to share the same table in a dinner (business). There are many irrelevant ideological personalities present as business partners in edu-business. The divisons the politicians show in public stages do not exist in their personal businesses.


The AICTE council is not performing for the public welfare. AICTE has become facilitation counter or a call centre for private education trusts to earn a business out of education. For India, a 'to be' the most population nation of the world, reducing quality of education is a grave danger! The actions of the AICTE is against the right to education and also to the Constitution of India.

The AICTE Act 1987 states that

........Chapter 10.1.(j) fix norms and guidelines for charging tuition and other fees.....

After change of Teacher ratio the AICTE never bothered about reducing the tuition fee of students. Karnataka state fee regulation committee had increaed the fee to 8% thereby incurring more than 25% profit to the private trusts. Telangana state fee regulation committee, Tamilnadu and other state committees are pushed by associations of the private trusts' to increase the tuition fee student despite the reduction in 25% of teacher strength in the technical courses.

........Chapter 10.1.(n) take all steps necessary to prevent commercialization of technical education.....

The AICTE had failed in controlling the private trusts who operate more than 90% of the technical education within the country. Instead it had diverted its attention in controlling the employees of the trust: the Teachers. The removal of 25% teachers (a consequence of change in ratio from 1:15 to 1:20) made few lakhs qualified and experienced teachers jobless, and the students to feel teacher deprived education. The private trusts gained 18% profit by this action of AICTE. Usually these trusts are in the habit of submitting accounts balance sheets which comprise 70% of expenses to be spent on teacher salaries alone and the AICTE has the habit of accepting such falsified statements without any cross verification. The action of the AICTE is just opposite to the laid down law and hence it is a severe breach of conduct.

Commercial variations: In the last 20 years Arts & science degrees did not thrive like the engineering and professional degrees. Because they were not fetching an employment as equivalent to professional degrees. These courses were providing other indispensable social requirement: producing graduates with minimal fee and at less stress to students. Will providing arts & science education in an engineering college reduce the fee of the student? No and Never. It will only increase the fee of the arts & science students. Subsequently there will be poor admissions in the arts & science category too. Then what will AICTE do?  


.......Chapter 10.1: Powers and Functions of the Council: It shall be the duty of the council to take all such steps as it may think fit for ensuring coordinated and integrated development of technical and management education and maintenance of standards......

AICTE do not have any jurisdiction over Arts & Science courses/ medical courses/  law couses/ IITs/ NITs/ IIMs/ IISCs. Similarly AICTE do not have any control over Universities/ UPSC/ State Public service commissions/ Tuition centres/ Coaching centres of the nation. Hence AICTE is not a monopoly council of the nation to dictate whatever coming out of its mouthpiece. AICTE is only an approval body and affiliation of colleges are required with respective universities unless the colleges have autonomous status. There is a commission called UGC which was expected to be converted in to HECI possessing jurisdiction over Ph.D (Research) education even within the AICTE approved institutions. UGC has the right to overlap in to the jurisdiction of the AICTE, whereas the AICTE do not have the vice-versa as laid down by law. This can be understood by the fact that the AICTE had quoted UGC in several instances to justify its decisions.


The AICTE being such a government of India council had gone scopeless and involved in:

__supporting corporate plunder, rather than being democratic as per the Constitution of the India.

__Instead of being a regulator of private education trusts/ societies the AICTE had gone in the wrong direction and shown itself as the facilitator of private education trusts.

__Instead of providing education for all, the AICTE had gone far enough to reduce the higher education rate in India.

__Instead of implementing qulaity in education (by providing higher education) the AICTE had gone far enough to convert higher education in to Arts & Science education. What a drama??

Now it is in your hands to take your democratic responsibility in hand. Show your opposition to the AICTE which had failed to be a 'watch dog' and became a 'rabied dog'. Will you do that?

___
K.M.Karthik
Founder
All India Private Colleges Employees Union
(A Movement of Engineering Professors employed at Private Trusts)
www.aipceu.in
Author of "T Rex: Teacher is the King"
whatsapp: +91 73958 68135
https://www.facebook.com/founder.aipceu.9
https://twitter.com/aipceu