Prof. Durgesh Mangeshkar

There are almost 1000 coaching institutes for IIT-JEE in India today and over 1.5 lac students enroll into various institutes for the 2-years program after Std.10. Just 20 years ago, there were hardly 10 classroom coaching institutes for IIT-JEE and barely 2000 students would benefit from JEE classroom coaching across India. In Maharashtra alone, there are over 50 coaching institutes for JEE catering to almost 15000 students per year. The increase in awareness of IIT-JEE is a positive change. However, due to proliferation of coaching institutes across India and multiple claims, there is also lot of confusion and dilemmas which students and parents face when it comes to deciding the right coaching institute. This note will provide crucial information which will enable you to make the right choice of a JEE coaching institute.   1.There are 2 headline parameters which parents and students must first check about a Coaching institute viz. Results & Feedback.   2. The ...

The Medical sector in India is in a critical state. There are 3 major issues ailing the Medical sector viz. Quantity of Medical Professionals, Urban-Rural Imbalance in Medical facilities and Quality of Medical Professionals & Equipment. 1)Quantity : As per MCI records, as on Dec-31, 2014, there are 9.36 lac registered (MBBS / MD / MS) doctors, 7.9 lac registered AYUSH practitioners, 16.73 lac registered nurses and 7.56 lac auxiliary nurses in the Medical sector in entire India. How many of them are active on the ground is not known yet ! India has 19 health workers per 10000 people when minimum number prescribed by World Health Organisation is 25 per 10000 people. As per another report by Indian Express published in 2013, India has only 1 working doctor per 1700 people whereas WHO prescribes a minimum of 1 working doctor per 1000 people !  Thus, there is clearly a shortage of qualified Medical Professionals across the nation. 2)Urban-Rural Imbalance :...

In 2005, the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh urged the IIT Council (Apex Body of all IITs) to make changes in the revered Entrance Exam for the IITs called IIT-JEE so that stress on students would be reduced and coaching classes would have to shut shop.   IIT-JEE was a wonderful system of Subjective Tests which stood the test of time from 1960-2005 and was a key instrument in selecting the best of the best for admission to the hallowed portals of the IITs and catapulting the IITs into world-class educational institutions.   The IIT-JEE underwent a drastic change from 2006 onwards with mixed pattern of Objective questions replacing the Subjective Test. What happened since 2006 ? Number of IIT aspirants suddenly grew 3-5 fold and so stress on the student increased likewise. You see a student gets stressed more from competitive pressures rather than the difficulty level of the subject. This is my observation having counselled thousands of students in the past 15 years. ...

"I need to prepare for CET and JEE. My college does not teach that. My college teaches for XII Boards only. But XII Boards marks have zero weightage. Despite all this, Govt has made it compulsory for me to attend college. For CET + JEE coaching, I need to join private classes too which advises me to study for atleast 6 hours daily at home without compromising on sleep. Honestly, I don't need to attend college besides Practicals as I don't learn anything new in college since my classes cover everything. Why is the Government making college attendance compulsory ? " Is the Government listening ? Do they understand the plight of a student ? Making policies based on pseudo-socialistic ideologies leads only to the suffocation of the student. Instead of talking only about student-centric education, Govt better do a reality check and make amends. Either improve the quality of education in junior colleges drastically OR get out of the way and grant students freedom to att...

On the occasion of Teachers Day, I guess it is appropriate to ask what the new Government plans to do to revamp the Education sector in India. We hear of plans to unveil a New Education Policy for India whose first draft is likely to be released in December 2015. But no public debate yet in media or elsewhere on what should be the way forward. Almost everyone has an opinion when the matter is Education. But it is high time that the Union HRD Ministry constitutes a smart central team of accomplished people with proven track record to build educational institutions and solve real-world problems in Education sector who could advise the HRD Ministry and lead the way forward. Since Education is a concurrent subject, the Union HRD Ministry must work out a seamless consulting mechanism to take State Governments on board while framing the New Educational policy. Revenues earned in Education sector must be shared with States. Often the main reason to oppose Union Govt policy is losing Sta...

The IITs were formed by an Act of Parliament in 1950 on the recommendations of the SARKAR Committee Report. The objective of the IITs was to produce highly-skilled technocrats, researchers and innovators who would spearhead the technological developments of our nation. By 1961, 5 IITs were established at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi and admissions were granted on the basis of an Entrance exam called IIT-JEE from 1960. By 2015, there are 19 IITs in India. The IITs have an alumni base of over 2 lacs as in 2015 whose impact on the nation and the globe is momentous. Though a majority of IITians have secured a stable career path with a good job in a large private or Govt. company, a remarkable number of IITians have excelled as Entrepreneurs, Innovators, Researchers, Civil Servants and change agents. The Pan-IIT Alumni report 2008 prepared by Zinnov Management Consulting suggests that IITians have been involved in the creation of 2 crore new jobs globally whic...

  ENGINEERING ADMISSIONS GENERAL GUIDANCE   As results of different Engineering Entrance Exams are declared, students and parents start getting anxious and try to grapple with the usual dilemmas about which are the better colleges, scope of branches of Engineering and what are the likely prospects of getting admission in different colleges. This article tries to address the frequently asked questions and typical dilemmas that students face during this crucial phase.   Firstly , Engineering must be taken up for undergraduate studies by any student who has above average logical & mathematical intelligence and has either genuine passion for a particular field of Engineering or is perhaps confused about his career prospects. Over a period of few years (typically 4 th year of Engg.), the student shall discover his or her career path which may or may not be related to the Engineering field of his undergraduate studies. However, Engineering education fosters ...

JEE ADVANCED 2015 : LAST MINUTE TIPS The JEE ADVANCED Exam will be conducted on May-24 and is the exam for admission into the prestigious 17 IITs. A Rank within the Top 6000 in Common Merit List is required for an OPEN category student to secure admission into some branch in the IITs. The IITs offer 4-years B.Tech., 5-years Dual Degree M.Tech., 5-years M.Sc. programs besides B.Arch. & B.Des. programs. About 5000 seats are available for OPEN category and about 5000 seats are available for Reserved category students in the 17 IITs. The results shall be declared on June-18. Here are a few last-minute tips for the JEE ADVANCED aspirant :   1.          Be Grounded in Fundamentals and seek comfort in them – it helps to neutralize the stress due to competition and the general pressure of the JEE. 2.          Revise the formulae and important results across the syllabi. Also go through all ...

In the past 11 years since 2004, the criterion for admissions into the Engineering colleges of Maharashtra has been a field of constant change and experimentation by the decision makers in Maharashtra Government. Every State Education Minister and Government has been changing the rules of the game at whim often with vague or short notice thereby creating an air of nervous uncertainty leaving lacs of students, parents and also teachers in a state of perpetual confusion and chaos. This article delves deeply into the various elements of educational philosophy, academic content & objectives, economics and broad political ideologies which are at play due to which this matter remains unsettled so far. However, all these issues can be settled if the political leadership has will and strength to implement a comprehensive vision for delivering quality education along with access and equity. Before getting into the nuances of the elements at play, let us first examine the changes in ...