Education is for Empowerment and Swavalambi Bharat
We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet. — Mahadevayya Karadalli
People of India, specially the youth who are under confusion shall better understand, what is the goal of education? Ultimate aim of education is Character building, & getting knowledge. Education shall shape the personality of the student and enable him to become good and prepare the student to do good as a responsible citizen. Education shall motivate students to reach out to the needy to extend all possible help and to address his problems. Swami Vivekananda said “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet. I look upon Dharma (religion) as the inner most core of education. Education is not filling the mind with lot of facts. Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own mind is the ideal of education. Education can bring out a student’s inherent talents and creativity to enable him to become self reliant, dynamic, trend setters and nation builder with character.
Literacy is not Education
Now a day in the name of education, literacy is being imparted. Making students to learn how to read and write. But education is beyond literacy. As a parent we are experiencing examination and marks oriented education system. This method neither produces good students nor responsible citizens for the country. On introduction of New Education Policy the definition of Education has undergone a sea change. Now it is not just imparting literacy. Youth has to understand that education is not for job. It is for knowledge. Further, education is not for getting a job either in Government/public or private sector to earn a handful of monthly salary. Education is to establish a real relationship between education, employment and empowerment. Further, also to understand the barricades of self reliance, reasons for increasing under employment and unemployment. Education is for self esteem, self reliance, to stand on his own feet, to engage self employment etc. On completion of education student shall either depend on his parents or run office to office with degree certificate in hand. A student shall not wait for years for getting job, which attracts handsome money on first day of every month. He should not forgat his marital responsible getting married and taking care of family etc. Whereas on completion of his education a student shall be able to start his own business, startup with full command on the job which creates more and more jobs for the needy & deserved.
Let us have a glance what is happening in the name of education. Parents invest their lifetime earned money just to see their sons or daughters getting degree in Engineering. They think that jobs are easily available for engineers. But they cannot digest that their wards do not even have minimum required technical knowledge. Now a days getting a First class or Distinction without having fundamental knowledge of engineering has become so easy that It’s high time for parents to stop running behind engineering degrees.
Students opting for Engineering degrees have to think of their future as a engineer. Since USA produces around 1 lakh engineers per year for a $16 trillion economy. Whereas India produces 15 lakhs engineers for a $2 trillion economy as per 2018. Earlier mass recruiting sector was manufacturing. It used to recruit from the core branches like Electrical, Mechanical, Civil etc. But, now a day manufacturing Sector is relatively stagnant at 17% of the GDP. Hence, the core branch placements have become very difficult. Recent days mass recruiter was the IT sector. It grew from scratch to almost 5% of the GDP in a short time. IT Employed millions of engineers. Now, IT is also saturating. Only a good, skilled IT Engineer is in demand. Demand is low in Engineering where as supply is abundant. Over and above this, skill level of an average engineer is poor, almost it is non-existent in many cases. If we have set aside the top 200 colleges, most of the fresh engineers have no idea of what they have studied. Ask a fresh mechanical engineer. Can he/she design a simple frame?
Today, the situation is grave. Since the most of engineers are working in a field that has no connection to what they have studied in the college. This is a waste of resources. Every one knows engineering degree is costliest compared to other courses. On an average it costs about Rs. 5-15 lakhs. But for poor parents, it’s a huge burden. When their son/daughter is not able to secure a job, they are devastated. It is a heavy loss to the family. For the nation, you can calculate the loss. If we left around 1 lakh engineers then NASSCOM says that they are employable. The rest of the 14 lakhs have each wasted 10 lakhs of fees. That the totals to around $20 Billion! Almost equal to the Government’s spending on Health care. Over this, there is loss of human capital.
Average students shall thought of alternatives
It is crystal clear that most of the sectors do not need engineers. For example, Tourism is 10% of the GDP, does not require engineers. Financial sector, trade, hotels and restaurants do not require engineers. Requirement of engineers in health, education, agriculture is also negligible. More than 50% of the GDP has no role for Engineers. Still most of Indian youth are becoming engineers. The situation is not sustainable. It is high time for planners in India to look afresh and need to replan the whole engineering education system. Government needs to cut down on the number of colleges and improve the quality. Therefore, average students who have much less ranking shall explore other career options other than Engineering courses.
Further, Bharat has 140 crores of population. Among them almost 60% are young. The jobs for which they are eagerly waiting i.e. white colored, fetches handsome salary per month, either in Government, public sector and Private sector put together may come around 10 crores. But these jobs attract the educated young. They waste years to get them. So, Youth shall come out of salaried job hangover and select such courses and adopt skills, so that on completion of their degree they can be self employed and creator of employment.
Join the race. Chariveti Chariveti
Leaving aside tiredness, Bharat is blossoming. Our GDP crossed 8.2% against 7.7%. The world is envisioning a bigger role for Bharat. In this context it is essential to understand our inherent capabilities, acknowledge strengths, nurture them and utilize them to build Bharat of 21st century. As a each citizen the youth shall step forward towards much more greater duties and goals. It is crystal clear that reforms and developments are multi dimensional. We must excel in our handling duties. Work with speed, maintaining standards, focusing on quality and perfectness. Let us redefine heritage, thinking, professional skills and beliefs to make them much relevant (Yuganukul). Then undoubtedly success will blossom. In this perspective students and parents of Bharat shall understand education, empowerment and employment. Young ones, student researchers, shall study with enhanced energy, enthusiasm, sustained team efforts for building a new Swalambi Bharat.
Mahadevayya Karadalli: Thinker on Swadeshi.
Ref: An Article by Dr. Milind Kulkarni - HR L&T, 2. PM speech /available data in social media.
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