“The kind of engineering education we need”

Introduction 

Current education curriculum is completely detached from a student’s life. It is highly theoretical and leaves very less space for intellectual development. 

For example- Students of class 10th are expected to learn about DC motors and parallel resistances. Whereas reality is that less than 50 per cent of Class 8 students of rural government schools can do division. (ASER Report 2016-18 by Pratham NGO). 

There is need for moving away from deep theoretical education to a practical broad-based one which can lead to development and generation of jobs. 

How can application based practical learning help in solving day to day problems- 

Case study 

As is widely known that subsidized electricity has led to inefficient use of groundwater and thus its depletion. 

A study at IIT Bombay by the name Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture has documented a case study about restructuring of electricity distribution network in Washim (Maharashtra). 

Here basic engineering knowledge and restructuring was used to improve performance, save cost of installation of new connections and cut down distribution losses. 

This reduced the stress and agricultural loss that farmers suffer due to breakdown of supply. 

What are the advantages of practical learning  

It gives solutions that provide jobs, save resources, and improve the lives of our people. 

It does not need cutting-edge research capability in any one discipline. Instead, it needs a multidisciplinary approach which takes best from different fields.  

This approach to education provides solutions that make best use of available capacity instead of investing huge amount of resources. 

Example- Solutions like target of installation of 18 lakh solar pumps under scheme like PM-KUSUM have easy implementation but have low advantage over some practical solutions. These require huge capital which make them a low return on investment option. 

(PM -KUSUM was launched for ensuring energy security for farmers in India, along with honoring India’s commitment to increase the share of installed capacity of electric power from non-fossil-fuel sources.) 

Practical approach involves contextual learning which has better learning outcomes. As seen in some tribal areas that it is a better option than using tribal language as a medium.  

Contextual learning is a method of instruction that enables students to apply new knowledge and skills to real-life situations. 

A recent MIT study shows that Contextualized learning and inter-disciplinary approach can teach students how to solve actual problems. 

Source- This post is based on the article “The kind of engineering education we need” published in The Indian express on 14th Dec 2021.