Thiruvananthapuram: In the latest move, the All India Council for Technical Education ( AICTE) has made Mathematics and Physics optional for admissions to B.E and B.Tech courses from the academic year 2020-2021. Now, students have to pass 10+2 with any of the three following subjects - physics /mathematics / chemistry / computer science / electronics / information technology / biology / information practices/biotechnology/ technical vocational subject/ agriculture/ engineering graphics/ business studies and entrepreneurship. In the ambiguously worded approval process handbook for the year 2020-2021, AICTE says “The Universities will offer suitable bridge courses such as Mathematics, Physics, Engineering drawing, etc., for the students coming from diverse backgrounds to achieve desired learning outcomes of the programme”. Bridge courses are supposed to be short-term and remedial in nature: only for those students who are weak in a particular subject. These courses cannot by any means replace higher secondary level mathematics and physics in the degree of rigour with which concepts essential to an engineering aspirant are to be covered.
Mathematics is at the core of engineering, being taught in as much as 5-6 semesters in any engineering core discipline. Such a disastrous move will negatively impact the quality of engineers produced by the Indian Engineering colleges. SFI sees this as a deliberate attempt by the government to commodify engineering education in India by creating a subpar workforce that is forced to sell its labour on non-negotiable terms to corporate companies, instead of encouraging in-depth engagement with the discipline to promote innovation.
The central executive committee of the Students' Federation of India demands the complete rollback of this move in order to preserve the sanctity of Engineering education in India.
Sd/-
VP Sanu(President)
Mayukh Biswas(General Secretary)
