The newspaper article made me think of what our education means to our students. They are disillusioned.A civil engineer caught snatching gold chains in the city of Nasik! He had no other work!!
Shobhit Mahajan is a professor of Physics & astrophysics at University of Delhi. When students approach him for guidance, he is at a loss. Anju & Anita wanted his advice on future career prospects. Both being students in Msc, he had to guide them to further his subject.
Anju is the daughter of a vegetable seller & Anita’s father is a clerk in a private office. Both have been giving private tuition right after their XIIth std to fund their education.After their college at 5 pm in the evening they would go to another child’s house because their place did not have enough room.
Prof. Mahajan has observed that 50 % of his students come from families where they were the first generation of college goers, more than a quarter belonged to farming families & 70 % of them reported their family income as less than 5 lakh a year.
After finishing their graduation, a few are looking at the prospect post their Master’s degree. They have high aspirations for the future along with their parents. This is where there is a huge mis-match between their aspirations & what they are likely to attain.
A huge pool of unemployed university graduates with unfulfilled aspirations is seen. This can lead to disastrous consequences for our society, some of which we are already witnessing.
Upgrading the existing ITIs, opening many more new ones with high quality of infrastructure & updated curriculum needs to be done urgently. There is a shortage of skilled labour in the country. The need can be met with proper planning.
Thinking ahead & mobilising our resources has to be done. It will require a fore sight & planning to go about it. But it can be done.
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