Technical Education
1.Technical Education in Tripura – an Overview
1.1 Technical courses being offered:
- Diploma
- B.Tech.
1.2 Current Scenario :
The importance of education, especially higher education, has been constantly growing and knowledge-based industries are now occupying the centre stage in development.Over the past 15 years, there has been a significant growth in the number of new technical educational institutions in the State and the overall enrollment as well.There are now6Polytechnics and 1 Engineering college run by the State Government. The name of technical educational institution, theintake capacity and their enrollment during theacademic year 2017-18 and 2018-19 in Tripura are given in Table-I.
Table-I
| Sr. No. | Name of institution | Year Estd. | Intake Capa-city | Enrollment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | ||||
| 1 | Tripura Institute of Technology (DIPLOMA) | 1958 | 230 | 554 | 578 | 548 |
| 2 | Women’s Polytechnic, Hapania | 2003 | 140 | 271 | 400 | 322 |
| 3 | Tripura Institute of Technology (DEGREE) | 2007 | 300 | 989 | 1044 | 1090 |
| 4 | Dhalai District Polytechnic, Ambassa | 2010 | 120 | 312 | 332 | 278 |
| 5 | Gomati District Polytechnic, Udaipur | 2013 | 180 | 547 | 507 | 499 |
| 6 | North Tripura District Poly., Dharmanagar | 2014 | 180 | 466 | 470 | 435 |
| 7 | TTAADC Polytechnic Institute, Khumulwng | 2016 | 180 | 180 | 344 | 512 |
| Total: | Degree | 300 | 989 | 1044 | 1090 | |
| Diploma | 1030 | 2330 | 2631 | 2594 | ||
1.3 Placement Cell :
A Placement Cell has been started in the Directorate of Higher Education, Govt. of Tripura to facilitate and steer the placement activities for the higher educational institutes under the State Government. Efforts are being undertaken to strengthen the placement activity. A centralized placement portal is in proposal to register and identify the prospective candidates from higher educational institutes of Tripura.
2. Some Relevant Issues Pertaining to Technical Education in Tripura
2.1 Faculty-Student Ratio :
The following data in Table-II shows that there is an acute shortage of faculty in the technical educational institutes run by the State Government with respect to the AICTE Approval Process Handbook 2018-19.As per AICTE norms, for every 20 students in Undergraduate and 25 students in Diploma there must be one qualified teaching staff member.
It has often been the criticism from the stakeholders that many of the Institutions are not in a position to offer education of good quality as they are unable to provide experienced and qualified teaching facultyas per the above norms at their Institutions. This may result in substandard or poor quality graduatesbeing churned out from Institutions every year.A big step towards recruitment of faculty positions for the institutes is of utmost importance in terms of enhancing the quality of technical education in the State.
Table-II
| Sr. No. | Name of institution | Intake Capa-city | No. of Faculty | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needed as per AICTE | In Position | Shortfall | |||
| 1 | Tripura Institute of Technology (DIPLOMA) | 230 | 58 | 0 | 58 |
| 2 | Women’s Polytechnic, Hapania | 140 | 36 | 15 | 21 |
| 3 | Tripura Institute of Technology (DEGREE) | 300 | 75 | 64 | 11 |
| 4 | Dhalai District Polytechnic, Ambassa | 120 | 22 | 4 | 18 |
| 5 | Gomati District Polytechnic, Udaipur | 180 | 22 | 11 | 11 |
| 6 | North Tripura District Poly., Dharmanagar | 180 | 22 | 2 | 20 |
| 7 | TTAADC Polytechnic Institute, Khumulwng | 180 | 22 | 2 | 20 |
| Total | Degree | 300 | 75 | 64 | 11 |
| Diploma | 1030 | 182 | 34 | 148 | |
3. Demand / Supply Analysis
According to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)NSDC Skill Gap Study of the North East - Tripura, during the period 2011-2021 various sectors have been identified for skilling and upgrading skills.These sectors are expected to provide employment opportunities in the coming 10 years (Table-III).
Sectors fordomestic demand have been identified based on factor endowments, policy thrust, market potential,historical presence, availability of trained manpower, availability and quality of training centre, timetaken to train and employment opportunities.
Sectors for migration have been identified based on natural aptitude, youth aspiration, market potential,availability of trained manpower and time taken to train. They include hospitality and wellness, IT/ITeS,fashion design, airport operations, healthcare, education and international trade.
Table-III
| Sr. No. | Sectors for domestic demand | Sectors for migration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Handicrafts and handlooms | Hospitality and wellness |
| 2 | IT/ITeS | IT/ITeS |
| 3 | Hotels | Fashion design |
| 4 | Food Processing | Airport operations |
| 5 | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| 6 | Education | Education |
| 7 | Border Trade | International trade |
| 8 | Rubber | - |
| 9 | Horticulture (medicinal plants) | - |
| 10 | Construction | - |
The key inputs for ensuring quality technical education are:
- Ensuring deployment of trained faculty as per the approved faculty student ratio of 1:20 in degree institutions and 1:25 in diploma institutions (already file has been moved for recruitment of 65 lecturers in polytechnics)
- Ensuring deployment of Principals and senior faculty (file has been moved for recruitment of Principals of Polytechnics. The advertisement for Principal for TIT has already been issued.)
- Ensuring funding for laboratory and classroom development through funding under Technical Education Quality Improvement Project (TEQIP)-III for TIT and under North East Quality Improvement Project (NEQIP) for Hapania Polytechnic and Dhalai Polytechnic is being utilized.
- Ensuring proper academic mentoring of the Polytechnic institutions. The Tripura (Central) University is to undertake revision of the curriculum of the polytechnics to make it more relevant to industry.
- Attracting good companies through a strong placement cell. Giving soft and communication skills to students to be more comfortable during placement sessions.
- Ensuring coaching and training for national level technical examinations such as Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for entry into M.Tech.
- Functioning of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of the Engineering College.
Statistics on technical education in the State:
- Formal technical education in Tripura started in 1958 when the Polytechnic Institute at Narsingarh was established. It was upgraded into a degree institute as Tripura Institute of Technology (TIT) from 2007 imparting both degree and diploma education is being imparted. Tripura Engineering College (estd. 1965) converted into NIT Agartala in 2006.
- Presently there are 6 (six) State Government Polytechnics in Tripura, namely, (1) TIT Polytechnic (2) Women’s Polytechnic (WPTI), Hapania, (3) Dhalai District Polytechnic (DDP), Ambassa, (4) Gomati District Polytechnic (GDP), Udaipur, (5) North Tripura District Polytechnic (NTDP), Dharmanagar and (6) TTAADC Polytechnic Institute (TPI), Khumulwng.
- Apart from them there are two Government of India Polytechnics in the State, namely, (1) National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) Agartala, under the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of India and (2) Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) Agartala, under the aegis of the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Govt. of India.
TIT Vision: TIT is trying to get NBA accreditation and Autonomy in the AY 2018-2019 and after obtaining them, the Institute is planning to start M.Tech. and Ph.D. courses. In the mean while, the planning is going on to convert the campus into a complete residential complex for all and ultimately to develop the Institute into a center of excellence in the entire North East region.
Contribution of the State Govt. in the establishment of IIIT Agartala
- A plot of land measuring 52.08 acres in Bodhjungnagar, Agartala has been allotted for setting up of IIIT Agartala on 8th June, 2012.
- The State Government decided to make the payment of State share of Rs. 44.80 Crore and shortfall of Industry Partner share of Rs. 5.82 Crore, if not contributed by them.
- An amount of Rs. 1.02 Crores has been provided to the account of IIIT Agartala on 5th April, 2018 so that bank guarantee of Rs.4.80 Crore from industry partners, contribution can be submitted to the MHRD for acquiring necessary approval.
