Sticking his back to a wooden seat at home and letting his fingers run on the keyboard has become a regular affair to my friend despite no job except idling. I one day asked out of interest as to what keeps him so engaged and I got an astonishing reply. The following was the conversation between us.
Deepak: Brother, round the clock I search for jobs.
Me: Don’t you find software jobs?
Deepak: I do find. In fact, there are n number of software jobs available, but my skill set don’t match their requirements.
Me: What qualification is needed to fetch a software job ?
Deepak: B. Tech/ B.E/MCA
Me: Dear friend, it shouldn’t be a problem to you dude. You are a gold medallist in B. E.
Deepak: Damn it. I am still a stranger to the subject SAP, Oracle Apps—that are essential to be a software professional.
Me: Why is it so?
Deepak: We never had something like hands-on-experience though there was some mandatory project—which was more or less a formality to complete the course.
Me: What’s your next step then?
Deepak: Well, I will first approach a computer institute to learn SAP. Then I will try for a job. In case if I don’t get, I will prepare for CAT to get into IIM.
This was not the case with just Deepak, but more or less with every new engineering pass-out in Hyderabad. There are over thousand engineering colleges in and around Hyderabad. Yet, meritorious people beeline at the non-recognised computer institutes to learn the software applications. Who is at fault? The student or the system or the ministry of HRD?
The software giants—mostly which are based in USA—expect a different output from the candidate whereas the colleges here are teaching something out dated. I don’t mean useless when I say out dated. It is an effort to highlight the large gap between the companies and fresh graduates. It is need of the hour for the government to notice this professional gap in par with economic gap and work towards changing the syllabus of the course.
Solutions:
Mere practicals at the university labs would be of no use to the students. They should be provided hands-on experience for at least a period extending not less than six months.
Just like how every person has right to education, every under graduation student should be provided with a right to quality education that is up to date with maximum practical exposure.
One month theory classes should be taken after which there should be at least 15 days hands-on experience on the subject taught in the previous month.
Universities offering technical education should ink memorandums with software giants for exchanging the knowledge on latest software applications.
Ministry of HRD should set up a separate council to minimize the urban unemployement and to address the problems faced by the urban youth.
Lack of core skills made my friend an unemployed person despite good qualification and a gold medal. Besides institutions, parents should also note that it is not the marks that count but the practical knowledge that the person should acquire out of literary education. And when they realize it, they will undoubtedly question the government and demand a change in the education system. Until then, people—not visiting computer institutes after their graduation in engineering—will be successful in not getting employed by the software majors. They would, however, end up at call centres if they have communication skills. Or else, they would try to crack some other CAT or MAT exam not out of passion for business studies but having left with no option.
Inputs from The Hindu, The Hindu: Education Plus
Image courtesy: Sox first
(Note: Issued in the interest of the society and to address the problems of urban youth).
