Another admissions season is upon us and students are readying for one of their biggest decisions in life: what to study and which college to go to. While trends may vary over the years, information technology and the knowledge industry remains a favourite, given its growth despite the recession and other problems in the developed world since 2008. Better payscales and a more desirable work atmosphere help it retain the top slot in the desirability list among undergraduates and graduates.
It comes as a shock, however, that of the five million-odd graduates India churns out every year, less than half are seen as employable in the knowledge economy, according to the National Employability Report by a company that tested around 60,000 graduates. Poor English and computer skills are perceived to be the biggest hurdles as companies chase graduates and vice versa. More affected are graduates from smaller towns as teaching standards are generally thought to be lower in direct proportion to distance from metropolises or major university centres.
While communication skills are virtually non-existent because of the nature of the rote learning system in place at the school level, the lack of a challenging atmosphere in higher education outside elite schools is what leads to fresh graduates feeling lost and short of self-confidence. Of course, the knowledge industry is not the only major employer. Banks and the services sectors are among top employers, and they too have to ensure that new staffers go through rigorous training programmes before they are useful for anything other than core functions.
On the bright side, however, there is some reason to celebrate this year — with two women figuring for the first time among the Top 10 in the IIT entrance exam. Not only are women distinguishing themselves in getting into elite schools like IITs in greater numbers, but they are also competing on level terms with men in most areas, except perhaps computer programming skills, when it comes to jobs across different sectors. The glass ceiling may prove more challenging, but even that is now getting broken more often than earlier.
We need to make study courses far more challenging and receptive to drawing students’ imagination and innovativeness. That is something our best institutes of higher learning must understand, and adapt to. They have a long way to go on the path of true modern education, the tenets of which are to prepare well-rounded citizens rather than just a clerical workforce. There are miles to go in making students employable the moment they leave the portals of universities, but the least that teachers and institutes can do is try to change themselves so that they can shape the people who can transform the world.