TN govt engg colleges outsmart private institutions

The results to the first semester engineering examinations conducted by the prestigious Anna University here reveals that students of government run colleges in Tamil Nadu have done much better than their peers in private institutions.

While not even a single student studying in 54 private engineering colleges and two architectural institutions in the state has passed in even one paper in the first semester exams [nil pass percentage], several government engineering colleges have pass per centage of over sixty and one even eighty.

Out of the 491 students of the Government College of Engineering in Tirunelveli who took the first semester exams, 392 have passed registering an impressive 79.83 pass percentage.

Similarly, the Tirunelveli regional centre of State run Anna University has a pass percentage of 64.37 per cent. Also, the government engineering college in Bargur has a pass percentage of 62.71.

There are, however, state run colleges that have not performed well like the University College of Engineering [a constituent college of Anna University], Pattukkottai, which has posted a pass percentage of a mere 15.60 per cent.

On the reasons for the non-performance of students in many private engineering colleges, former Vice-chancellor of Anna University and ex-member of Union Public Service Commission Prof E Balagurusamy told PTI that at least 100 engineering colleges deserve to be shut in Tamil Nadu.

"In the interest of students, these engineering colleges must be closed down," he said. Listing poor quality of faculty, lack of infrastructure like library and lab besides managements that were only worried about money making as important reasons behind the bad performance of students, he said teachers were both "underpaid and unqualified" in such colleges.

About a decade ago, there were about 220 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu and today there are over 500 of them and a significant chunk of students hail from northern States including Jharkhand, Bihar and even north eastern ones like Assam.