Vocational empowerment, not degree mills should the be credo of the HRD ministry
Our national obsession with degrees that dont fetch jobs or often fetch underwhelming jobs has to be phased out. When Microsoft said that only 20% of our freshly minted engineers are employable, the government should have woken up with a start. But the slumber continues .... more
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Proposal for vocational education and not degree/diploma awarding mill should be the need of education .I have already given details for such action by new Govt. This way we can skilled person ready to deliver output as soon as they join service. more
Jun 07
A mindset shift is imperative, beginning with parents who obsess about pedantic degrees that have no linkages to the workplace. Many Indian parents would rather have a jobless graduate of a child sitting unemployed at home than bringing home the bacon doing a hands on kind of job. Where do we start? more
Jun 07
Recently, I was interacting with one young man, who had just completed his MSc in Chemistry and had taken up a job in Indian Railways in some clerical role. I was curious and inquired why would his clerical role require knowledge of Chemistry. His response was that his job has nothing to do with his MSc degree and knowledge. I was a bit surprised and inquired further, on his reasons for taking up such a job. His response was that there were not many jobs in the market place that required MSc Chemistry. He had no other option but to take up the job that was coming his way. My inquisitiveness did not end here and on further probing what I got to understand was that the criterion for this job was to be Masterâs degree holder. The reason why he chose to do Masters in chemistry as the availability of seats as other courses was filled up due to reservation. (He was an average student from a poor forward family). He had no choice but to take over the left over. Issues brought out from this incident â 1. Education (Read Degree) eligibility criterion for jobs have nothing to do with the skills required in the job. 2. Our Education is degree oriented and has no connection with skills required for a successful career. 3. Our society has a very hierarchical mind-set where only few degrees command respect. Students pursue courses based on societyâs pecking order and not on their own interest and inherent competencies. 4. Reservation has further skewed this structure Proposed solution â 1. Complete overhaul of the education system from academic to knowledge and skill enhancement and enrichment 2. Courses (rather than degrees) need to be career oriented with better employ-ability. 3. Courses should give rise to entrepreneurship spirit rather than over dependence on job and employment. 4. Our society has come out of its mind-set and start respecting âDignity of labourâ more
Jun 07
Very true! Initiatives on MOOC ( Massive Open Online Courses ) added with work platforms like Elance and oDesk have to be taken up by HRD ministry. The core ideas are - Every individual should have a chance to pursue his passion right from the young age and build his career - Every growing professional should be encouraged to EARN for themselves than some employer giving a salary more
Jun 07
