By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
Barabanki, UP: As the car takes a left turn after a drive of over 35 KM on the Lucknow-Faizabad road, near Barabanki, practically all claims of development of a shining India is found gasping on a road where potholes are more visible than the pitch and coal tar. After about 5 KM of bumpy ride our car halts outside the gate of a Mughal era fortress at Jahangirabad. The fort has now been converted into an educational institution imparting course in engineering, management and media at affordable fees and is run by a group of Indian Muslims based in the United States.
Jahangirabad Institute of Engineering & Technology (JIT) or Jahangirabad Educational Trust Group of Institutions (JETGI) is promoted by a number of professionally successful Indians who are settled abroad and have come together to promote higher education with leadership skills to give back to the community through Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC).
I was waiting to meet Amrita Srivastava, Assistant Director (Admin), I started talking to some of the young boys who were there to complete the admission process. Md. Waris (17) was just out of class 12 and had come to take admission in B.Tech. The boy from Siwan district in Bihar said that his father works as a truck driver. Sitting beside him was Rashid Alam, almost the same age. He too was from Siwan and had come to take admission in the college. His father, who is a Police Constable in Bihar, was accompanying his son and was waiting to meet the college authorities for at least partial waiver in fees as it would be difficult for him to pay the full money, he said.
Md. Waris and Rashid Alam from Siwan
Later I met another young boy Shahid Ansari, from a village in Ghazipur. A bright student Shahid scored over 70% in class 12, but as his father is a farmer, he cannot afford the fees even at JIT. By the time I was done with the work, I got to know that after filling all the formalities, his form has been processed for full fees waiver. The dream of a farmer’s son to become an engineer came a lot closer to becoming a reality.
Barabanki of eastern UP has been out of the technology race and remains industrially backward. Besides students from the Eastern Uttar Pradesh, a large number of them came from Bihar, West Bengal and even as far as Kerala.
The New Engineering Block
Away from the media din, this institute is not always running for the crème de la crème, but rather appears content to promote education to students, many of whom would otherwise not be able to study. The UP Government has fixed the B.Tech. tuition of up to Rs 75000. As a rule, JIT charges only Rs 50 thousand and thus technically all the students get what they call “Chairman’s scholarship”. Besides there are several other scholarships available to meritorious students, informed Dheerendra Kumar, the Account Manager, In Charge of maintaining records of different scholarships. “Top 30 students who get more than 70% ( 5 each from the five engineering courses and 5 from MBA) every semester gets 50% rebate in based on their performances in examinations,” he told TwoCircles.net.
JIT has a tie up with the Hyderabad based Sahayta Trust that further helps the needy students in payment of fees on merit cum need basis. Kumar informed that in last three years itself, the Trust has given a total of about one crore rupees towards tuition and hostel fees of poor needy students, including 54 in the last batch.
Being a Minority institution, majority of students belong to the Muslim community (minimum 50% of seats are reserved), but there are good number of non-Muslim students as well and the scholarship facilities are also available for them. I also met Badri Vishal Mishra, who too chose JIT as it’s “comparatively cheaper” and he has hopes of getting further rebate.
Besides the institute also helps the students belonging to socially weaker sections in availing scholarships under different schemes of the government not only for the minorities, but also for SC/STs. To encourage the higher enrollment of female students, the institute has decided to give 50% rebate in fees to all girl students.
And it is not just that the college wants to turn into an ordinary charitable intuition, with little infrastructure. It has many meritorious students who are doing quite well after graduating from the college. The new Engineering Building, well equipped workshops and library is as good, if not better than several private run institutes.
Courses offered: Besides Engineering in Computer Science, Electronic, Civil, Electronic, Electrical and Mechanical, JIT also offers MBA course. There is a separate Media Institute (JMI) too that offers diploma and certificate courses in media and has the state of art studios and infrastructure.
Part of Old Jahangirabad Fort that houses Admin Block, MBA Institute and Library.
Many students I spoke to, did have complaints about some teachers, lack of some facilities in Labs or hostel food – the kind you get to hear in most places – but appreciated a single fact that the Institute is never very strict about fees and have been accommodating with most students if it did not arrive on time.
However, there was one concern that not only students but even Mr Chandrama Singh, a faculty member at the MBA center and Head of Training and Placement Coordinator, shared; and that is the question of placement after graduating.
“Several of our students have got placed in good companies at state and national level and some have even been placed in Gulf countries,” he said, adding, “But yes that is an area where we need to focus even more.”
He explains that being in hinterland sometimes it becomes difficult for them to approach companies based in big cities, adding that as most of the students come from rural parts, not only from Hindi belt but even in West Bengal and Kerala, and hence often they need proper grooming to be made industry ready.
To work in this area, JIT has tied up with the Hyderabad based English House that specializes in English communication skills and personality development. As I visited the campus, Munawar Zama, Director of English House was conducting a 20 days long workshop not only for the first year students, but also for old students and teachers.
Communication class of Munawar Zama.
JIT has acquired more land surrounding the fort and several more courses are in the pipeline, beginning with teacher training course, BBA, M.Tech, Diploma engineering and full time bachelors and masters in media. A separate hostel for girl students is also being planned. The trust running the institution envisions a full-fledged University dedicated to the downtrodden in years to come.
Mosque and Boys’ Hostel.
Professor Khwaja M Rafi, who is credited with expansion of another private university Alfalah in Faridabad, has recently joined as the Principal. He says he has been given the “mandate to establish a center of excellence”, and he is working hard towards it by recruiting highly qualified faculties and promoting good academic ambiance in the campus to gradually set up a complete University, with several departments and faculties.
Links:
http://www.jit.edu.in/