KARACHI, July 2: The provincial education department has decided to approach federal government for financial assistance to hire qualified and permanent faculty, improvement of labs and provision of necessary scientific equipment for Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET), Karachi.
Scarcity of qualified teachers and absence of practical labs and industrial equipment were the two reasons, which resulted in disaffiliation of the college from the NED University of Engineering and Technology and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
An official of the DCET said that huge funds were required for raising the standard of the college. He said that upgradation of the laboratories and other departments of the DCET college was pre-requisite for seeking affiliation with any university of engineering and technology.
The college was facing deficit of Rs20 million per year. In view of the situation, it is decided to approach the federal government for provision of funds, as the institutions falls in the purview of federal ministry of education.
The DCET official said that provincial education ministry was also considering to request the federal education department for privatization of the institution.
According to him, a large number of passed out students of DCET of various batches are facing tremendous difficulties in getting employment at various national industrial corporations and concerns, owing to disaffiliation of their institution from Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) a couple of years of back.
“A majority of students of 1996-97 batch are facing difficulties in getting jobs at the KESC, Pakistan Steel, and other industrial concerns, as the students of this batch are not registered with the PEC. The authorities of these organizations are showing reluctance even in considering the applications of fresh DCET students,” he added.
He said that the college was facing acute paucity of teachers, causing inconvenience to a large number of students and the schedule of classes was also being affected. A lot of permanent faculty members were on leave, whereas a few available teachers reportedly did not bother to take classes, he added.
To overcome the scarcity of teachers, the DCET had hired some qualified teachers on contract basis, however, the contracts of majority of those teachers have been expired.
The official said that the situation was worst at the departments of electronics and chemical engineering, where majority of permanent teachers of the college was on leave since long, whereas the contracts of some teachers had not been renewed, he added.
For about 650 students of the electronics department, out of nine permanent teachers, four had been on leave since long. Only two teachers were hired on contract basis, he informed.
Out of 28 scheduled classes, only four or five classes were currently being held at the department, he said.
“Majority of students of electronics department have not seen their teachers for months, as they do not bother to take classes,” a student remarked and noted, “how could it be possible for six teachers to take 28 periods, as mentioned in schedule of department?”
The situation at the department of chemical engineering was even worse, where not a single class had been held for the last many months, a student informed. There were only five permanent teachers, of whom one was on leave, whereas three teachers hired on contract had left the college, he added.
At the departments of industrial and metallurgical engineering, almost 90 per cent teachers had been on leave and the administration remained failed to take notice of the situation. Out of five permanent faculty members of the industrial department, only one was available at the college, however, he had hardly taken any class for the last few months, a student said.
At the department of metallurgical engineering, three out of six permanent teachers were on leave, while one teacher had been hired on contract basis. Two or three classes take place in a week against scheduled 16 periods for students of four different batches.—PPI