VJTI alumni lament the downfall of their alma mater and are airing their grievances through the internet
VJTI alumni lament the downfall of their alma mater and are airing their grievances through the internet
Top politicians, policy makers and corporate hotshots once roamed its corridors stooping under the weight of thick engineering textbooks. Those were the great days of VJTI. “We would be overcome with grief at the end of our course,” says Chhagan Bhujbal, state public works minister.
But the once great college lies in tatters. “I am proud to have studied at VJTI. It was the best engineering institute in our days,” says Bhujbal, who, like most former students, is concerned about VJTI's falling standards. “The people running the institute should maintain its dignity. It is their responsibility to see that internal policy making does not tar its reputation.”
Bhujbal isn't the only one complaining. Prashant Rashikar, an alumnus and now a professor at VJTI, says he is a witness to the institute's fall. “VJTI is dying a slow death in front of my eyes,” he says, exasperated.
Mangesh G, another former student, says, “I had burnt the midnight oil to get into VJTI. I wonder if students today are as keen to get in. After all, what does VJTI have on offer now? It is caught in so many controversies. There are many corruption charges against its director. I feel really sad when people these days talk about VJTI disparagingly.”
Some of the alumni have come together and formed an email chain in protest and are spreading awareness about the degradation of VJTI. The group has been dashing off emails to former students to join in and their SOS plea seems to have worked.
An alumnus, who now works as a freelance writer, says on condition of anonymity ,
“Not many of us believed that something so immoral could happen at an educational institute of VJTI's stature. But once an independent inquiry set up by the state government confirmed the perilous situation the institute was in, we were all shaken.”
After the initial shock and disbelief, the institute's alumni are now toiling hard to set things right. The alleged misappropriation of funds by VJTI's director has led to heated internet debates. An underground blog movement is slowly but gradually taking shape.
“Alumnus from all engineering and management institutes must join hands to save our educational institutes from further decay. We cannot sit back and wait for others or the system to do the job,” says Mangesh.
The alumni have seen the writing on the wall and are coming together to save their institute from doom. That’s a debt they would willing pay..
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}