Averthanus writes:
> We should be thankful that the Chairman, Education
>and Industry
>Committee of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and
>Industry has confirmed that
>the only reason that Industry is manipulating the
>educational system is to
>ensure that our institutions of higher learning
>produce robots to fit into
>the production processes of big businesses. He
>asserts that "with fast
>changing technologies, there is no time for industry
>to spend time training
>employees as before. "Plug and Play" is the mantra
>and to meet the reducing
>price lines, industry too, needs employees who >are
"plug and play" ready to
>run as soon as they were put on the job. "
Education needs to have two components --- a
humanitarian and philosophical component, and a
training component. Both are necessary. Sadly,
when one looks at college graduates today coming
out, they are trained in neither.
I agree with GCCI that today's students coming out
of colleges are not ready to be useful to the
industry. And in today's competitive world, it is
difficult especially for small companies to spend
money on training. This is especially true since
many a times employees leave for better pastures
on getting trained and the company is left with
a whole lot of money down the drain.
It is not true that "plug and play" implies that a
student becomes a robot. In fact, the biggest lack
of supply of skilled human resources is at the
higher level --- where more creative talent is
required. A welder is more easily available for
hire than a
high-level software architect.
Today's industry requires highly skilled people,
and universities are still stuck in the old times.
Universities can also train students in more serious
issues --- ethics, humanities, the role of technology
in society, social justice etc etc. This will ensure
that we dont have leaders of Indian industry who are
corrupt.
regards,
Samir
