‘Human values’ and ‘environmental engineering and disaster management’ will now be included as compulsory subjects to enrich the syllabus of the first year of BTech course for engineering students in Rajasthan.
Apparently, the Rajasthan Technical University (RTU) in Kota has injected these subjects into the syllabus to infuse ethical values among the engineering students and promoting their social connect. The 118 engineering colleges affiliated with RTU will have their students study the subjects from the academic session 2017-18, viz, this year.
The RTU vice chancellor professor NP Kaushik said, “The idea is to not only nurture a good engineer but also make a good human being for which value-based education is necessary,” continuing to say, “We want to prepare an engineer who has social connect, and at the same time can connect with the environment because most of the natural disasters in the world occur due to human errors.”
Natural acceptance of human values, ethical human conduct, need and content of value education, and harmony in human being, family, society and nature and topics alike comprise the human values subject. The subjects will also conduct practicals.
Kaushik disclosed, “Students will be sent to hospitals, old-age homes, slums and also for social work with NGOs, so that they can The understand human values in application instead of mere theory.”
The first two semesters of the first year teach five subject — mathematics, physics, chemistry, English and computer programming. But, as per the revised course, the students will choose one out of physics/chemistry and English in any of the two semesters to make way for the introduction of the new compulsory subjects. This implies that is a student chooses to study chemistry in first semester, s/he will be pursuing chemistry in the second one and vice versa. The same cycle is introduced with human values subject and English.
An RTU professor also offered that this was also a way to relax students off the much technical subjects they continuously deal with and hence, reduce a whole lot of pressure.
Human values and environment subjects will carry 100 marks for theory and 50 for practicals, much alike all other subjects. The development of the syllabus for human values and environment/disaster management subjects has been done by RTU and books for the same are out as well.
Professor BP Suneja of RTU said “First-year engineering students will read topics like pollution, deforestation, global warming, waste management, rainwater harvesting and disaster management so that when they become engineers, they take care of environment in their professional work.”
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