Chandigarh, December 20
They neither have proper books nor are sure about the course syllabuses. There are no proper laboratories and adequate teaching faculty. There are, by and large, out-dated computer systems for them to operate.
All this reveals the sad story faced by thousands of students enrolled in the eight high-tech courses of information technology being run by Punjab Technical University (PTU) under its distance education programme (DEP) study centres spread over Punjab, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and elsewhere.
As a result these students are facing an uncertain future. Under the DEP last year the PTU started a five-year integrated B.Sc. (Information Technology) course, a one-year Diploma in Computer Applications (DCA), a three-year B.Sc. (Information Technology) course, a two-year lateral entry to B.Sc. (Computer Science and Technology) course at the undergraduate level. At the postgraduate level, it started a one-year postgraduate Diploma in Computer Applications, a two-year M.Sc. (Information
Technology) course and one-year lateral entry in M.Sc. (Information Technology) course. The courses follow the semester system.
A hefty fee structure was also put in place for the students enrolled in these courses. For instance, the fee for the integrated B.Sc. course is Rs 72,000 for five years, for
B.Sc. (IT), Rs 48,000 and M.Sc. (IT) Rs 30,000.
At present there are over 15,000 students on the rolls of the university in these
courses. The PTU has earned about Rs 38 crore from these courses. The PTU had given franchises to about 200 study centres to run such courses. For supervising these centres zone-wise franchises were given to area service providers.
Official sources in the PTU told The Tribune that because of the probe started by the Vigilance Bureau, the new Vice-Chancellor had ordered complete overhauling of the entire distance education programme. Because of this reason, the books published for various courses had not been released yet.
The sources said a three-member task force had been set up to check the contents of books, relevance of syllabuses prescribed and the infrastructure available at the study centres. The members of the task force are Dr Kalanidhi, an adviser to the Union Labour Ministry; Dr S.K. Bijlani and Mr S.V. Krishnan. The task force was expected to meet soon to check the contents of books and other related matters. The books would be distributed among students only after these were cleared by the task force.
Otherwise, action would be taken as per the directions of the task force. The Board of Studies has maintained that what it recommended was the best in the country except the syllabuses approved by IITs in the country. Hence, there was no need to change the same.
But the question is when the students will get these books. Will they have to sit in next month’s examinations without having a look on books even once.
The PTU Registrar said that the authorities concerned were seized of the matter and they were trying their best to make the books available to students at the earliest. When asked that the students had not got detailed marks cards (DMCs) of earlier semesters, he said the officials concerned had been directed to despatch the DMCs by December 25.
About the exploitation of students by certain study centres, the Registrar admitted having received complaints in this connection. A meeting of the area service providers would be held on December 27 at which these would be told to ensure that no student was harassed. The task force would inspect all centres and those not having adequate infrastructure would be told either to provide the same or close shop.
He advised the students not to pay to the study centres for getting photo copies of the books. They should get proper books approved by the task force. When told that there were study centres that withheld the roll numbers of students to force them to deposit the fee for in the next semester, the Registrar said he would take action if any complaint was received in this connection.
