I have never sought a job after graduating from prestigious IIT-Bombay six years ago, for I could never visualise myself working tirelessly for the corporate world. I never felt my heartbeat racing for today’s buzzwords, like ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or the ever-so-lucrative Business consultancy, and the software world, and the likes. What I did feel and learn about myself was that I want to feel humane, and that too with what I do as my career.
I feel passionate when I write and work for a social cause, and so I chose civil services where I’ve been struggling these past six years! But there at IIT, I saw many people around me , exploring multiple arenas of activities on their own ,often for the sake of making their CV -multidimensional but at last choosing a Consultancy job (Irrespective of their academic stream ) – followed by MBA , Masters or entrepreneurship . My Institute was that diverse yet unilateral in graduates’ choices . But I felt a lack of a multidisciplinary emphasis there unlike many many universities abroad do cultivate .I didn’t understand why the need of liberal arts is lesser in a tech-professional ‘s life . And the Covid-2019 Pandemic has exactly given us to reflect on the same ,even though it’s a moot element in the Draft National Education policy 2019 ! On the larger overhaul ,we need to see liberal arts higher education as reputable ,admirable and as professional as we tend to do for our engineering,law and medicine as separate professions . Why can’t I have a law and Cinema both as my majors so I can choose an amalgam or explore one of them as my career ? Why Can’t I be given opportunities through my college -supported , internships in my choice of field in a multidisciplinary higher education system ? Well, models like KREA can be looked up to in this regard.Basically ,we are talking about the urgent reforms we need in our higher education and training system ,more so in the face of the crises that this pandemic has posed .
We also need to realise that the crisis is not all because of Pandemic -it’s just the symptom . Its whopping 1000 universities(Central and State ) and all the small-big colleges affiliated ; more than 150 Institutes of National Importance including IIT,NIT ,IISER,IIM ‘s ; have a plethora of challenges of funding , infrastructure , Quality of teaching and obsolete non-market linked curriculum and so on .But the biggest worry of the system should be the employability factor . As per the Indian Skills report ,around 46 percent of the graduates are employable however the engineers are lesser so !
The kind of curriculum and the rote examination dependent higher education system we do have has been a crucial cause for the same . Look at the Chinese (Our neighbours however hostile make us the best in our quest to outperform each other ! ) vocational education ecosystem – even upgrading towards the Robotic -AI based Industry 4.0 . Hence , we should also think towards speeding up the idea of skill universities and National Vocational University recommended by the Sharda Prasad Committee of 2015 . Innovative models like Livelihood colleges of Chhatisgarh can be replicated throughout the states with more customisation .
When you just google out -”employability skills “ -You find the very first list from Australia – Good communication ,leadership ,patience and adaptability besides technical skills . A IIT-IIM educated close friend observes that soft skills in all the academic streams must be made compulsory . This reminded me of a very studious batchmate of mine who is excelling currently in a research field , but had to suffer (In her placement interviews )due to her reticent ,not-so-good at communication skills ! Did we ponder that we had completely left these out in Indian higher education system ,exceptions apart ! Dr Ujjwal Patni- the Motivational speaker and management Guru suggests to brainstorm the ideas and just begin from the neighbourhood itself for the new venture if not a job . But for that matter ,not everyone has that access to ecosystem , technology platforms and an entrepreneurial mindset to begin with .And that for example is taken care of by –entrepreneurship curriculum of Delhi Government schools . We also need to inculcate this understanding and change the mindset towards a degree-to-skills oriented system -of policymakers,educators , students ,teachers and most importantly ,in India , of parents . Coming to the physically distanced world as the new reality , digital education should not be and can’t be a replacement for Brick-and-mortar models completely at least in the short term future . One ,because digital divide is too glaring amongst various states as well as among rural-urban areas and lower-upper classes of the society and such other binaries of inequality . Two ,because for research and experiment based learning and physical skills , there needs to be a simultaneous separate network/channel . Industry academia linkages have to be made mandatorily implemented through incentives . National apprenticeship promotion schemes should be focussed upon more . Dynamic upskilling is the need of the hour in every sector in the ongoing and after-COVID India .Skills acquired five years back might not give one a competitive edge in the otherwise declining economies for a few years and now,more so in a recession-struck world from now on . My long journey to fulfill a childhood dream and a purpose to serve has also taught me patience i have never imagined i could ever have . And besides patience , I believe this pandemic has given us the resilience to uncertainty and trauma for now .But that would be an asset for future . The online platforms like Coursera ,Unacdemy , NPTEL, SWAYAM ,DIKSHA are the places to visit . As Mr. N RAGHURAMAN observes , one can take this time as a period to brainstorm or to think with a relaxed mind -what one needs . The pandemic has shown , world is in a chaotic transient state and so does the employment-education systems . Perfect opportunity to make the structural reforms everywhere- Economy , technology and education ! In the ancient texts, Education meant master of all ‘ kalas ‘(arts) . It can’t be just a piece of paper or a certificate though its a must to have !! 🙂 Extraordinary times give you extraordinary ideas and will as well . It’s the time for transformation .