Higher education now boasts more students than ever before, particularly due to the perception that it enhances one’s job prospects. With the demand for business and engineering degrees on an upswing, it is of little surprise that institutes by the hundreds have mushroomed all across India. Instead of being centres of learning, however, they have become commercial hubs that make lofty promises to students of getting them placed in prestigious jobs. With genuine career interests and quality education as mere afterthoughts, these students join such obscure institutes primarily in pursuit of luxurious MNC lifestyles and the white-collar amenities that they entail. Such a culture not only leaves graduates ill-equipped to deal with the rigours of professional life but also impinges on the overall efficiency of the economy.
Micro, Small and Medium (MSME) units, which are the key generators of employment, are particularly hit hard in the process as they are left to choose from a pool of below-mediocre candidates, who are not just left with vacuous degrees but the burden of huge student loans as well.
It’s time we addressed the seriousness of poor quality education that is harming an economy’s most prized assets, its workers. Human resource is arguably the most vital component of MSMEs, the bedrock of our industries. Owing to their business models, the MSMEs are not designed to compensate employees with business packages that the likes of large corporations can but can nevertheless provide meaningful and fulfilling careers. With the current culture of easy money and the false allure of fancy professional aspirations of students, emphasis on holistic education and development of practical skills have been replaced by trendy placement packages and a lust for six-figure salaries. This has made the process of acquiring good-quality workers an uphill battle for MSMEs. Consequently, we need a paradigm shift in our educational system that would stress more on quality than on quantity.
At the moment, MSMEs are playing the roles of educators and are being exploited as a temporary means to an end. Most candidates view them as steppingstones and apprenticeship programmes, not long-term and legitimate occupations. Such a culture severely undermines the mutual trust and confidence that is imperative for employers and employees to have between them. Small businesses are then forced to teach to their employees what the latter should have rightfully been taught as pupils. Ignorant of rudimentary skills, companies are left with no option but to teach them from the scratch. This leads to the investment of precious time, money and resources into the primary education of workers at the expense of production and economic sustenance. This further begets frustration, excessive micro-management of staffs and underperformance in MSMEs and workers both.
For example, average MBA HR graduates today are blithely unaware of basic concepts such as Provident Fund, Employee State Insurance, tenets of the labour Act, etc. They are under the simplistic and misleading impression that their job only requires recruitment and training of personnel without actually possessing vital skills themselves. Similarly, typical engineering graduates struggle to operate and maintain basic tools as they never had to leave the comfort of their classrooms in order to gain practical industry exposure. Without the ability to get their hands dirty and work in teams under pressure, their diplomas and certificates are of no avail.
In merchant ships, there are usually five engineers besides the engine crew. Their almost daily work is that the Chief Engineer who is the head of the engineering department works with his own hands in a boiler suit with his engineering team. The engine crew is meant to provide necessary support and cleaning as required. That is why the ships can safely undertake nonstop voyages for months together at sea without any breakdown of machineries. Such an approach and understanding towards professional ventures is conspicuous by its absence today.
Hence, we must expand our realm of career choices and relinquish the culture of lusting after degrees for their namesakes. Only those truly cut out to be management professionals should be given MBAs, those with a genuine interest in engineering be made engineers, etc. Practical and need-based skills should be sought after, not no-name degrees in a desperate attempt to get placed. This way, colleges that impart poor education would automatically cease to exist, and vocational training and higher education would assume the effectiveness that they now lack. Such an approach would give a new impetus to an efficient and effective functioning of MSMEs.
Association Viewpoints:
1. The criteria and procedures relating to the grant of permissions to start educational institutes must be based on strict and objective regulatory guidelines, free from ambiguities and arbitrariness. A thorough evaluation to ascertain the promoter’s interests, his aims and objectives, the faculty, location, infrastructure, etc., should be done prior to the grant of any permission.
2. The main aim of the institute’s faculty must be to impart right education, not embark on commercial ventures or add to their bottom-line.
3. A meritocratic selection process, where any kind of undue pressure, wealth or privilege doesn’t determine a candidate’s acceptance into the institute, must be firmly established. A list of fair and impartial eligibility criteria such as a candidate’s academic record, work experience and individual caliber should be adhered to when conducting admissions.
4. Instead of issuing graduation certificates to undeserving candidates, diminishing the quality of the degree, such students must be encouraged to join courses more befitting to them. Example: When a candidate doesn’t qualify to join a diploma course, he could undertake an ITI course if it is more appropriate.
5. Periodical monitoring by the regulatory authorities must be ensured to maintain the standards of academics. This board of overseers must be wholly independent of the institutes they examine.
6. Need-based practical training should be imparted to the candidates that can directly be put to use on joining any industry after their graduation.
(The writer is working chairperson, EFCAI and ex-chairman, Orissa Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises, Email: efcai12@gmail.com)