Engg college makes teachers take exams too

With the exam season about to begin in most engineering colleges in Maharashtra, a large number of anxious students in various college campuses preparing for their exams is a common sight. But at Thane’s Alamuri Ratnamala Institute of Engineering and Technology, one can see a bunch of young and middle-aged teachers preparing for their exams that will be conducted in May this year.

For the last two years, the college has been conducting exams for all its faculty members to ensure that teachers are always updated about their subject so that they can teach students well. Conducted twice a year, these exams are the most talked about initiative of the college. “All colleges try and recruit the best teachers that they can find for their students. However, like students need to clear an exam every year, teachers are also expected to update their subject knowledge every now and then, so they can effectively teach students and also work hard to know more about their subject while studying for the exams,” said Dr Dinesh Israni, Principal, Alamuri Ratnamala college.

Israni said that the college has formed a team of senior professors who often consult external evaluators to check teachers’ answer sheet. “We conduct two semesters every year. Once the teachers are done with their teaching work for one semester, we ask them to start preparing for the next semester. This helps them to be prepared for the upcoming semester before the new session starts,” said Dr Rupendra Anklekar, a professor at Mechanical engineering, who is also in-charge of the academic audit initiative.

The exam for teachers are conducted twice a year — once in December and then in the month of May. Teachers who cannot pass the exams with 80 per cent or more are given side posting until they are successful.

While there was some initial apprehension in the minds of teachers as their knowledge was put to test in this way, but now teachers feel that the regular examinations have been  a great learning experience. “In the beginning, there was a lot of stress to achieve the cut-off percentage. But now teachers look forward to the exams and study well which also reflects in the performance of the students,” said Dr Ashwini Kshirsagar, assistant professor in Chemistry at the college.

At the end of these exams, the college prepares a bank of ideal answers written by teachers during their exams, which act as model answers.