Harsha Kakar
The very nature of society is undergoing a change. There is a migration of population from rural to urbanareas and with itthe joint family system too has almost collapsed and lead to nucleus families with one or two children as a norm. The dreams and aspirations of the population are simultaneouslyrising. Technology has opened newer vistas and avenues for parents and children alike. Parents have now begun to dream for a brighter future for their children. They have begun looking at education as the way forward and are willing to spend more on the same for their children.
At the same time, to maintain their desired standards of living, both set of parents are willing to work and maintain the household. This has resulted in limited quality time being available forthe growth phase of the child. Children today are more exposed to technology and what it offers at a very early age. A child of today knows more about the latest mobiles and its apps than most elders. It is this that has begun consuming their minds and time, rather than outdoors and sports.
The recently declared CAT and IIT results have clearly showed that it is not the quality and type of school or support institution which produces the best students, but the care and interest of the institution, irrespective of where it is located. It has also proved that background and type of schooling has little to do with results. If you are capable and hardworking, the future would be yours. Those who have risen from humble backgrounds and joined institutions of repute are few, but would always be the harbinger of change and an inspiration for those waiting in the wings. Thus the desire to change themselves and along with it, change their families and outlook would only increase.
Simultaneously, to meet this growing aspirations and needs of society, schools and other higher education institutes have begun rearing their heads in every city and district. These are being raised with catchy names and high investment. They compete with one another to provide better facilities to attract students. Their advertisement budgets are high and schemes offered are immensely attractive. Education is today becoming a big business. In most cases these institutions offer little more than academics, overall development seems to recede into the background.
Schools today come in a vast variety. From government schools in every city and village, to small one room private schoolsin small localities with classic convent namesto large institutes created with immense investments by big business houses in cities.
Schools apart, colleges of every variety, offering a mix of subjects, based on local needs and palates are opening in every city and district. They are like multi cuisine restaurants, offering a variety of courses and subjects to satisfy the needs and demands of the student. You could choose graduation with law, engineering with MBA, graduation with MBA etc. They are ready to take in almost any student, with any result, provided the student is willing to pay. This is all part of the same roaring education business. There are colleges forming part of universities, deemed universities, almost deemed and in some cases diploma offering colleges, not affiliated to any university. Most such institutes are opened and run by large business houses. All offer placement services, how successful and how effective is a mute question.
This spreading educational system has immense to offer as facilities. However, with such high investments and the desire to obtain returns, the staff selected and the salaries offered do not bring forth the best that would be needed. Therefore the end result is more facilities, more options but lower quality of education.Lower quality of education provides the certificates needed but not the capability which the student should possess with his qualification. Therefore at the end of the day, though the number of qualified or degree holders are large, their knowledgebeing low leads to lower employability.
Though the spread of colleges creates a basket full of qualified and educated youth; however, what is alsosimultaneously lacking is a job market, to absorb the graduates being produced year after year. This mismatch between the system of education and the availability of satisfactory jobs creates an unhappy population which is disillusioned with the government and society. Theyare then forced to either accept jobs way below their qualification levels or resort to anti-social activities to meet their economic needs. In a number of cases even after being offered jobs, students have to bribe their way into the company, through their own institute’s placement cells.
Colleges are normally termed as tier one, two or three. While very few top colleges come under tier one, majority of the students attend tier two or three. Placement levels vary depending on the quality, location and level of the college. With a larger variety of youth graduating, companies have options to choose the best from each level and at the lowest salary that they can offer.
India producesimmense graduates each year. During my interaction with the management and students from a number of engineering and MBA colleges in various parts of the country, what came to light was the offer of salaries for tier two and tier three colleges. In most cases an average engineering graduate was being offered fifteen to twenty thousand and a management graduate eighteen to twenty five thousand at the start. In spite of this the numbers placed have been way below the desired level. For even those placed, the low salary offer is in places away from their own cities and towns. It compounds the issue as the salaries are too meagre to support an individual living alone in a new and unknown city.
The Prime Minister has constantly stated that his aim is to create a mass of literate youth who would form the back bone of the country and be a resource pool in the coming decades. With the western world moving towards negative growth and the one child policy having its own impact in China, the world would soon be looking towards South Asia for providing educated and trained manpower to support their continued economic growth. This could be the future, but not the present.
To sustain today’seducation boom there is a need to simultaneously support development and opening of industries. It is the responsibility of the governments at the centre and the state to enhance creation of industry and open avenues for development.It is only by enhancing development would we be able to meet the aspirations of our educated youth and provide them opportunities post completing their education.
While unemployment exists in every country irrespective of development and economy, however in our case, as the gap grows larger, so would the desire increase to move to anti-social activities. We need to begin seriously considering support for development of industry and other avenues to draw our educated youth into productive area’s rather than letting them meander into activities detrimental to society and the nation.
(The author is former Major General)
(feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com)
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