Education News

Skills shortage paradox

Every year India’s 1,300-plus engineering colleges churn out an estimated 500,000 engineering graduates to feed the manpower needs of the booming IT-ITES (information technology and information technology enabled services) industry (annual revenue: $36 billion or Rs.162,000 crore). Yet, paradoxically the IT-ITES industry is suffering a severe shortage of manpower because only 7-8 percent of the annual output of engineering graduates is employable.

The looming employability crisis confronting engineering graduates across the country has been the focus of studies conducted this year by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM); an expert team of the Indian National Academy of Engineers (INAE — an autonomous society under the department of scientific and industrial research, headed by distinguished scientist Dr. K. Kasturirangan) and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) Tamil Nadu chapter. These studies highlight serious shortcomings in India’s human resource development effort.

The conclusions of the studies are of particular significance to Tamil Nadu (pop: 62.1 million) where 225 engineering colleges and 13 deemed universities provide technical education to an estimated 1.5 million students. According to Mapping of Manpower Skills for Tamil Nadu — 2015, a report released by CII-Tamil Nadu in March, 43 percent of graduate engineers and 47 percent of diploma holders in the state are finding it difficult to find suitably remunerated employment even two years after completion of their study programmes.

The study says that although Tamil Nadu produces 80,000 engineers and 60,000 diploma holders annually in addition to a large number of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) graduates, and has emerged as the largest producer of technical manpower in the country, high levels of unemployment prevail in its engineering talent pool. Even among those who found jobs within two years, at least 50 percent had to wait for nearly a year and 40 percent for close to two years before offers fructified. The authors of the study cite three reasons for this dismal state of affairs: lack of an integrated education system which monitors the education quality from school to postgraduate level; varying standards across educational insti-tutions, and failure to continuously update college curriculums to industry expectations.

"Established institutions such as IITs, NITs, and others continue to deliver their brand promise. However, several hundred new engineering colleges which have sprung up in the past decade have difficulty in attracting adequately qualified faculty, retaining them, and enhancing their skills. Many of them therefore don’t attract the best students. It is the growing number of students graduating from these non-academic, poorly managed colleges who experience unemployment. Fresh engineering graduates also require additional training in soft and behavioural skills, therefore there’s a growing need for ‘finishing schools’ that provide such inputs," says R. Chandrasekaran, managing director, Cognizant Technology Solutions (annual sales: Rs.3,600 crore), one of the largest recruiters of engineering graduates in India.

But while academicians agree that the quality of education imparted in second and third rung engineering colleges leaves a lot to be desired, they argue that it is unfair of IT companies to expect fresh engineering graduates to possess well-developed skill sets ab initio. "The engineering industry covers a broad spectrum and it’s unreasonable to expect them to meet the expectations of all segments within the industry. Since the IT-ITES sectors demand advanced technology and soft skills, employers have to invest in training graduates to become industry-ready. Universities and colleges have made attempts to rectify the employability crisis by inducting members from industry into their visiting faculty and other committees, but industry contribution has been inadequate," says V.C. Kulandaiswamy, former director of technical education in Tamil Nadu, and former vice chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Anna and Madurai universities.

Quite clearly, there is need for greater interaction between industry and academia to address the shortcomings of Tamil Nadu’s engineering colleges. Industry needs to get involved in training faculty and students and help institutions invest time and resources in skills development. The CII study is a wake-up call to college managements as much it is to corporate India to go the extra mile.

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)

Lyngdoh prescription

The J.M. Lyngdoh committee constituted on January 20 under a Supreme Court order to investigate election malpractices and related campus indiscipline (including violence) in student union elections and recommend reforms is all set to present its report to the apex court. This month the committee completes its four-month tenure.

"Public hearings are over and our work is almost complete. We have prepared the basic draft of recommen-dations as directed by the Supreme Court. We’ll be submitting the recommendations in time," says Prof. Dayanand Dongaonkar, secretary general of the Delhi-based Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and convener of the committee. However Dongaonkar declined to divulge details of the final draft on the plea that the recommendations have to be submitted to the Supreme Court which will decide the future course of action, including whether the committee can make them public.

The apex court had passed the order to constitute the committee while hearing a special leave petition — University of Kerala vs Council of Principals’ of Colleges in Kerala &Ors (2004) — against a lower court judgement that forbade universities in Kerala to direct the manner in which students can be elected to student unions.

Appointed by the Union HRD ministry, the committee was asked to examine criminalisation of student elections, financial transparency and limits of expenditure in the conduct of elections (ceilings on election-related expenditure, the source of such expenditure, filing and scrutiny of returns by unions); eligibility criteria for candidates contesting elections (such as maximum age limit and minimum standards of educational attainments), and establishment of a forum to address grievances and disputes arising out of student elections. "It needs no emphasis that while making the recommendations, the committee shall also focus on the need to ensure that undesirable elements do not enter into the unions, which would be unde-sirable for having (sic) academic atmosphere in the institutions," said the Supreme Court order.

The committee chaired by James Michael Lyngdoh, former chief election commissioner, included Prof. Dayanand Dongaonkar of AIU as convener, Prof. Zoya Hasan of JNU, Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta of Centre for Policy Research, Prof. Ved Prakash (director, NIEPA), and I.P. Singh (retired deputy CAG) as members.

Since student union elections are stepping stones to national politics, they have become important for all political parties. Therefore they pump money, muscle and resort to questionable tactics to win them. From simple inducements such as greeting cards and small gifts for electors, student union elections have come a long way. A treat in the canteen is passé and has been replaced by gifts such as wristwatches, perfumes, expensive chocolates, mobile SIM cards, calculators, deodorants etc. Even strongmen well-versed in intimidation and booth capturing are called in and group clashes and police supervision have become routine.

All this had prompted some universities and colleges to ban student elections. But courts across the country have struck down such drastic prescriptions.

Now several high profile institutions including Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia University and Lucknow University are gearing for student union elections. "Students have the right to elect and send their representatives to state assemblies and Parliament. But surprisingly their right to elect their representatives to sort out their problems on college and university campuses is being questioned. Participation of students in unions gives us first hand experience of democracy, and transforms us into citizens aware of our rights and duties. Experience shows that student unions wherever they exist, promote the dormant talents of students. They also promote healthy interaction among students from across campuses and integrate students of various regional, linguistic, cultural, ethnic, religious and caste backgrounds," says a CPM backed Students Federation of India statement justifying student union activities on campuses.

But while there’s undoubtedly a case for encouraging student union elections and activity, it’s also undeniable that more often than not student organisations have imported the worst practices of competitive electoral politics into the hitherto tranquil groves of academia. Bothered and bewildered academics are keeping their fingers crossed that the Lyngdoh Committee’s report contains workable suggestions about ways and means to regulate runaway student unionism.

Autar Nehru (Delhi)

Communist prejudice

The record sixth consecutive term of West Bengal’s Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Front government is reaching its end even as Assembly elections conclude in May. From its public pronouncements, the communist leadership seems quite confident about being re-elected to office for an unprecedented seventh term. However some developments in the education sector have clouded the Left Front government’s sunny electoral prospects.

For several years the CPM-led state government has been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with private schools devising various ways and means to dilute the minimal degree of freedom they have been enjoying. In an ingenious attack on schools affiliated to the Delhi-based CISCE and CBSE examination boards (which are beyond the administrative control of the state government), the government constituted a 13-member ‘watchdog panel’ to recommend ways to supervise the 350-plus English-medium schools affiliated to these Central boards.

While announcing the establishment of the panel in the state assembly last year, education minister Kanti Biswas had promised that the panel would collect information about these schools, especially information about their fee structures and teachers’ salaries by December 2005. He had also promised the assembly that the final report of the panel would be submitted to the government by March 31, 2006. "We had a plan to frame guidelines for regulating the functioning of these schools by April, so that they could become operational this academic year," says Biswas.

Yet it seems the panel hasn’t been able to measure up to the job. For one, it faced a marked reluctance on the part of the schools to provide information. Although the panel circulated a questionnaire to schools soliciting details of tuition fee structures, teachers’ salaries, students’ performance in internal and board examinations and admission procedures, none of the institutions have responded. A second set of questionnaires elicited fewer than a dozen responses. Moreover, the principals of CISCE and CBSE affiliated schools who commonly regard themselves as being more than a few cuts above primary-secondaries affiliated to the state examination board, refused to meet the panel members.

"It is unfortunate that the panel could not complete the exercise on time," laments Biswas. According to him, a growing number of complaints regarding the "quality of education" dispensed by CISCE and CBSE schools and the high tuition fees charged by them, had prompted the government to set up the watchdog panel. Legislators from the opposition had also criticised the Left Front for its failure to check alleged malpractices in English-medium schools.

Biswas has already paid the price for having to swallow this type of humiliation from upscale schools affiliated to pan-India Delhi-based examination boards. He has not been nominated by the CPI(M) for a seat in the forthcoming assembly election. This means that a new minister for school education will be sworn in after the election. Whether the new incumbent will be able to set aside traditional communist prejudices against private ‘elite’ schools and lets them be, remains to be seen.

Sujoy Gupta (Kolkata)

Language high noon

It’s a perennial annual ritual. Every year just before the start of the new academic term, the Karnataka government’s primary education ministry goes into overdrive over the medium of instruction issue in primary schools. Way back in 1994 under the rules of the Karnataka Education Act 1983, the state government decreed Kannada as the compulsory medium of instruction in classes I-V in all schools established after 1994, failing which they face de-recognition leading to forced closure.

The problem with this legislative fiat is that while the education ministry has decreed Kannada as the medium of instruction and has proscribed the teaching of English even as a second language in primary schools, almost every parent in the state (pop. 57 million) wants his/ her child to become proficient in English asap and prefers to enroll them in private English medium primary schools. To cater to this demand, promoters of private unaided schools routinely sign forms and affidavits agreeing to dispense Kannada-medium or ‘mother tongue’ education, but offer English-medium education instead. Troublesome school inspectors are ‘persuaded’ to turn a Nelson’s eye to this common infraction.

However caught in the crossfire of Kannada language chauvinists with strong vested interests in the lucrative vernacular textbooks printing racket, the state government is obliged to express periodic indignation about flouting of the medium of instruction law by school managements. Last year several over-zealous education department officials seized English language texts from the hands and bags of young children, provoking a public outcry following which the then primary and secondary education minister R. Ramalinga Reddy promised to introduce the teaching of English as a second language from class I in government schools. But in early 2006 the Congress-led coalition collapsed and a new JD(S)-BJP coalition government came to power, with an education minister who seems unaware of the history of the state’s long-standing and inconclusive medium of instruction debate.

"Kannada is the official language of Karnataka and every child in the state should learn it. Although government allowed promotion of English medium schools before 1994, after amendment of the Karnataka State Education Act, schools are obliged to utilise Kannada or the mother tongue as the medium of instruction until class V. I am very particular about enforcing this law and if the notified schools don’t comply, from June 1 they will be de-recognised and asked to close down," says B. Horatti, designated primary and secondary education minister.

However far from being spooked by the threat of the minister, the managements of the estimated 1,000 schools which have violated the terms of their licences, have become used to the annual huffing and puffing ritual of the government which signifies collection time. They are quite clear that their prime obligation is to children and their parents and not to language chauvinists in the government and beyond. Comments the principal of one of the notified schools: "Every year around this time (April-May), the education minister releases a list of schools ‘illegally’ teaching in English medium and issues a public notification instructing them to switch over to Kannada or the mother tongue or face de-recognition. This is followed by inspectors visiting our schools with bribe demands which range from Rs.5,000-25,000, depending upon the size of the school and class of students enrolled. After negotiations are concluded, it’s business as usual."

Shukla Bose, an alumna of IIM-Calcutta and promoter-CEO of the Bangalore-based Parikrma Foundation, which runs four English medium CISCE-affiliated (which as such are exempt from the state government order which is only applicable to state-board affiliated schools) free schools for slum children, is critical of the government’s medium of instruction policy which she believes is anti-people. "Even the poorest parents want their children to learn fluent English so they are equipped to compete for the best jobs on an equal footing with children from English medium private schools. In my opinion, even in government-owned Kannada medium schools, English should be taught — and taught well — from class I onwards as a second language. This way their students won’t be at a disadvantage when they enter the job market," she says.

But fed up with annual harassment, the pay-offs system and the new minister’s forced closure threat which is the last straw, private school manage-ments have resolved to confront the new JD(S)-BJP government. "It’s astonishing that a representative, elected government is so unaware of public demand for English medium education. We will petition the governor, chief minister, and education minister to forthwith amend the provisions of the Karnataka State Education Act and allow teaching in English medium. If the government doesn’t oblige, we will be forced to seek judicial intervention. It’s high time this matter is resolved once and for all," says G.S. Sharma, the Bangalore-based president of Karnataka State Unaided School Managements Association.

High time indeed.

Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)

CAG cloud

The highly respected Pune-based Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, founded in 1964 with branches across Maharashtra and in New Delhi, is currently in the news — unfortunately for the wrong reasons. Its founder Dr. Patangrao Kadam (MA, LLB and Ph D), the incumbent cooperatives minister in the Maha-rashtra state government is under fire, with the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) coming down hard on him.

According to the CAG report for the year ended March 2005, "certain irregularities" in the university’s dealings with the Maharashtra Industries Development Corporation (MIDC) have benefited Bharati Vidyapeeth. The first transaction dates back to June 2004, when Kadam was industries minister and ex officio chairman of MIDC. According to the comptroller, violating norms for sale of land in the state, MIDC sold a 18,953 sq mt plot in Navi Mumbai, reserved for residential purposes, to Bharati Vidyapeeth at a huge discount. The land which had a market value of Rs.3,950 per sq mt was sold to the varsity at a mere Rs.525 per sq mt, inflicting a loss of Rs.6.49 crore upon the exchequer.

The CAG report also came down heavily on MIDC for changing the user status of the land — a change effected in a mere two days. A second indictment of the comptroller found fault with MIDC for entrusting the construction of a wine processing and research centre in Sangli to Bharati Vidyapeeth at a price of Rs.2.5 crore in a deal, which according to the CAG report lacked transparency. "The selection was done in a non-transparent manner as the university had no past experience in the field," says the report.

Kadam who is chancellor of Bharati Vidyapeeth and has served as minister of education and industry in the state government, refutes both allegations. He told the press that in both cases norms were followed and the MIDC board had authorised the transfer of land to Bharati Vidyapeeth in a transparent manner. "We advertised the plot for two years prior to signing the deal," he told the press. According to him the price was thoroughly scrutinised and was as per MIDC’s Mumbai rates.

However, if the land was sold at the price mentioned in the CAG report, it was undoubtedly lower than the prevailing market value in a city where real estate prices have gone through the roof, notwithstanding that the plot is situated in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai. The matter is currently being investigated, but if the irregularities are confirmed, the reputation of Bharati Vidyapeeth which offers education in numerous streams including arts, science, law, management, engineering etc to 18,000 students will suffer as will the name of its founder, acclaimed in the field of education for his active role in promoting schools in rural and tribal Maharashtra.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)

AMU complexity

Some six months after a Allahabad high court order stripped Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) of its much-prized minority status, a Supreme Court judgement has brought some respite to the university administration. On April 24, a two-judge bench of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice D.K. Jain restored the minority status of AMU, but stayed the contentious issue of granting 50 percent reservation to Muslim students pending a hearing by a five-judge constitutional bench.

A Central university, AMU which has an enrollment of 24,000 students was established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875 as the Mohamaddan Anglo Oriental College. It was converted into a full- fledged university by an Act of Parliament in 1920. In 1981, when Indira Gandhi was prime minister, an amendment to the University’s Act conferred minority status to the varsity. Ironically the logic offered for the change was that the university had been promoted by a Muslim, notwithstanding the fact that Sir Syed had deliberately chosen to establish a secular institution.

In 2005 the university adopted a policy resolution reserving 50 percent of capacity for Muslim students in 36 professional courses. On October 4, 2005 a single judge bench of the Allahabad high court, responding to a petition filed by several students who were denied admission into postgraduate medical courses, pronounced that the grant of minority status to AMU in 1981 was violative of the Constitution. In January 2006, a larger bench of the same court upheld the decision. In April, the AMU management appealed these decisions in the apex court.

In its April 24 order, the Supreme Court ruling observed: "Let status quo be maintained regarding AMU’s character as an institution as it existed before the petition challenging its status was filed." Therefore the university’s decision (supported by the Union human resource development ministry) of reserving 50 percent seats in the 36 postgraduate courses has to be kept in cold storage until the case is heard by a larger bench on May 10. This, observed the court, was necessary because the appeal involved interpretation of constitutional provisions relating to the minority status of the institution. In an equally important observation the court noted that the constitutional validity of the AMU (Amendment) Act, 1981 and legislative competence of Parliament to frame laws for AMU was not an issue before the court. According to the two judges, the larger constitutional bench will re-examine the judgement in the Azeez Basha Case (1967) in which it had been ruled that AMU cannot be granted minority status as it was established by Central legislation.

It was this ruling that Soli Sorabjee and Rajeev Dhawan appearing for the AMU quoted in their arguments, pointing out that it did not apply to AMU subsequent to the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act which allowed the institution to frame its own rules for administration and admission. On the other hand appearing for the students who had questioned the parliamentary grant of minority status, advocates K.V. Vishwanathan and Indu Malhotra argued that the university is an academic institution created for all communities and not just for Muslims.

Mohammed Safdar Khan, president of the AMU Old Boys Association argues that the prime objective of reservation is to improve educational opportunities for Muslims. "Spread of higher education among Muslims will automatically lead to a more harmonious and progressive atmosphere within the country," he says.

When the matter comes up before the full constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, the judges will have to address several complex issues — redefining minority institutions and whether there can be a uniform policy for minority institutions funded by the Central and state governments and those promoted by education entrepreneurs and religious trusts. It will be a landmark judgement for higher education in India.

Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)