The ‘coaching mafia’ is controlling the education system in many places in the State, alleged MLA U T Khader.
Referring to the inordinate delay in announcing the dates for CET for diploma holders seeking lateral entry to engineering courses (if there is any exam), at a press meet here on Wednesday, he appealed to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to make it public the stand of the government on the exams thereby putting an end to the speculations. Stating that though the AICTE guidelines clearly state that there is no need of conducting common entrance test (CET) for diploma holders seeking lateral entry to engineering courses, many educational institutions have been conducting coaching classes. “These institutions are also pressurising the authorities concerned to conduct exams just because they are conducting coaching classes,” he ridiculed.
Appealing the chief minister not to succumb to the lobby of coaching institutions, he said that the Directorate of Technical Education, Principal Secretary to Higher Education and Karnataka Examination Authority too have said that there is no need to conduct exams.
Terming the onging coaching classes as “a mechanism to make quick bucks,” he said that a little concern by those who are in key posts would save hard earned money of thousands of poor parents, besides giving a sigh of relief to the already burdened students.
Where are leaders?
Taking a dig at the students organisations who stage protests at the drop of a hat, Khader sought to know why these students organisations have been keeping mum. “There are students organisations who hold flags even to those issues that are not at all connected to India. But there is not even a single students organisation which has raised voice against the injustice when there is grave injustice to their peers and friends in their own district,” he rued.
He also regretted that the polytechnic teachers themselves have joined hands with Department of Technical Education in ‘cheating’ the students.Congress leader T K Sudheer among others were present at the press meet.