Besides research work and their overall performance, teachers in
Engineering colleges will now be appraised on the basis of students'
evaluation
All India Council of Technical Education's (AICTE) decision to include the
students' feedback to assess the teachers has been introduced to improve
the educational quality of engineering colleges. But, its effectiveness
remains to be seen. "Since students' feedback will be considered while
granting promotion to the teachers, they will have to put their best foot
forward in the classroom. This assessment pattern is followed by the IITs
and NITs," says AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe.
As per the rule, students' feedback will have 25% weightage in the overall assessment of the faculty, which will be a decisive
component for their promotions. Till now, the focus for promoting teachers in colleges has been on the number of research
papers published by the faculty members. This was partly the reason for the publication of substandard research papers in fake
journals.
"Colleges in tier II and III cities, may not have the resources to conduct research. But research publications being given high
priority during promotions often leads to the problem of paid journals. The new assessment will thus award good teachers," adds
Sahasrabudhe.
While some academicians are positive about the impact of this assessment system, others are of the view that students might
not be honest with their feedbacks owing to various reasons. "Students are sometimes not objective or may be simply confused
while giving feedback for teachers. Their opinions are based on peer thinking. While interacting with the students, I have come
across several students who behave differently in class and during one-on-one interactions," says Govinda K, professor, School
of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).
Addressing the concern, Sahasrabudhe says that the number of such students is mostly low, thus the overall score of a teacher
who is good at his work is not hampered.
"Some students may give poor feedback, probably because the teacher is strict or is not lenient with marks, but this is
temporary. In the long run, a teacher who is passionate about teaching and thinks about students' welfare will always be valued
by the majority. Also, such an assessment will also ensure better student-teacher communication," he says.
This system will allow the teachers to address their weaknesses and improve teaching methods, says KK Mahapatra, dean,
Academics at NIT, Rourkela. "Since students are the direct beneficiaries, this will help the teachers to analyse their skills, for
instance, maybe there is an issue with communication or students might be finding the teaching method complicated," says
Mahapatra.
Source: The Times of India dated 25 March, 2019
