Why force us to attend lectures? ask students

If you tell somebody not to do something they go out and do it. It is this reverse psychology that works with students as well when they are told not to bunk lectures. Students in major technical colleges of the city are irked with the attendance system not because they have the curiosity to miss lectures but because the academics and teaching process has major loopholes.

Students pay huge fees of an average of more than Rs 50,000 a year in these technical colleges. These technical courses need both practical exposure and theoretical knowledge. And students are informed to maintain an attendance of 75% in every subject in every semester. If they do not make up to this number they are either failed, not allowed to appear for the examination, fined, asked to submit extra assignments or may be their parents are summoned depending on the mood of the professors and the wish of the college.

Where does the problem lie?

Students have raised the issue that some professors are not efficient and their lectures are just not worth it. A student from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) at Matunga, said, “Some professors just read out from a powerpoint presentation (PPT) and do not explain any concepts. Well, some even go ahead and tell us to make the PPT and present it to the class. They even take the PPT that we have prepared so that they can go ahead and teach the next batch using it. Can we students not read from a PPT on our own?”

While students of DJ Sanghvi College of Engineering at Vile Parle are fed up with professors who lack knowledge as they just hold a Master’s degree.

“Our professors have just completed Master’s degree from our college itself and they come and teach us. We are in our final year and we can easily gauge that these professors do not have any practical knowledge of our field as they too have just completed their Master’s. Why should we attend such lectures? It is like the saying ‘one blind leading the other blind’.”

What do the profs feel?

The purpose of the basic attendance system is to ensure that students attend lectures but some professors feel there are other ways to do it. A professor from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay said, “We can conduct surprise tests in the course of our lectures for a particular semester. We can mark attendance on the basis whether a student is present for at least some of these tests. In this way we do not force the students to attend all the lectures.”

Another professor said, “We have a constant pressure of completing the syllabus in a particular span of time. Most of the professors are also visiting faculty so sometimes they try and rush with the lectures. It is not justified as every lecture is important.”

What do the students feel?

Students have pointed out certain solutions which the colleges should pay heed to. Students of Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) at Matunga said, “We pay huge fees, our course is difficult to understand and we need to work on practical projects then why would we bunk lectures on purpose? We know what lectures we should attend and what we can miss. So, do not tell us what to do.”

“We get involved in various practical projects and workshops for competitions and create some new models. The college should consider this effort and give us some leeway on our attendance as we are working on a beneficial project for the college. You cannot expect us to participate in competitions, create new models, experiment our theoretical knowledge in a practical way and yet attend some lectures where we do not gain anything,” added a student of DJ Sanghvi.