Edit institute is my personal nightmare from hell after graduation.
I graduated top of class, college.. distinction blah blah blah yet I could not earn a seat in the colleges I wanted to do my PG in because my marks were significantly higher (yes, higher) than some under-privileged students who got those seats. Never mind, thats another issue which will be discussed some other time.
Panic!! naturally.. graduate with no PG.. I am going to rot in hell. I could visualise doing the 9-5 routine.. 4 hrs of the day, 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year would be spent in a local train. My skin would crawl with the mere thought of this. SO I did, what at that time, I thought was a wise move. I joined the Edit institute.
I had read a newspaper adv. from edit which promised everything under the sun. Personalised coaching, one student one comp, specialised teachers, job guarantee.. the only thing left was heaven. ’’Be a graphic designer in 8 mnths’’ it said, and I smiled all the way to class for the first 2 days. Then it all went down hill.
Fees: INR 17, 500/-
why? I dont know.. and I get this stinking feeling that even those blokes didnt know either. Oh did I mention I get a free stereo worth 1400 bucks?... wow! all I ever wanted. I can spend the rest of my days listening to it now!
Package: pagemaker/quarkexpress, photoshop, MM director, Illustrator and PAINT (???? bllaaaahhh)
So I would (technically) know all these wonderfully powerful softwares by the end of 8 mnths. whooopeee! Where is that fat pay cheque I deserve.
Teachers: Most of them ex-edit students (job guaranteed, remember?). The rest are uninterested print media ppl doing this to support the weekend pub routines. experience? lets see now.. 1 mnth? naaaa... perhaps 20 days.. or is it 10?
Course: The ’exhaustive’ PAINT package is taught with great gusto since its the only one the teachers know really well. We shift into higher gears and the teachers all of a sudden seems to be less of teachers and more of by-standers. They would run through most of it.. give in the basics, ask us to practice and then call the module closed. Now we are all masters of this software. A fraud of a test is conducted the marks of which have no value whatsoever.
Timings: they are very particular that you exit the moment your 1 hr is up. Its great since the next batch doesnt have to compromise, but atleast start my session on time please! IT was almost always 10-15 minutes late to start. reasons for this are still unknown. Its insulting cause at times we have been unceremoniously asked to leave.
Guru and super-guru: There are the idiots, some teachers and there is this super-guru. A man who knows every software like the back of his hand. One would imagine that he would be of some help.. but no! he will take the best machine in the lab and practise his skills and learn new softwares while the rest of us struggle with getting our machines started. The machines.. aaahhh.. they are something else. Right out of another generation. A generation when a colour TV was the ’’in’’ thing.
What we learn: NOTHING! all that happens is we get introduced to softwares. Give me 500 bucks and I will introduce you to 15 softwares now!
They call this course graphic design. They dont know the first thing about it. We are taught to read and write, it doesnt make us great writers or for that matter even just writers. Its about time they stop misleading people BY CALLING THE COURSE GRAPHIC DESIGN.
Job Scene: hahahhah ahha hahh ahahahah!! they didnt even pretend to help me. I, on my own sourced out some interviews and took them. I returned home ashamed at myself, for having the nerve to present myself with such limited skills and understanding of the field. It was then I realised that I donated 17500 as charity towards a blood sucking business man parading as the director of an ’’educational’’ edit institute.
I have been more fortunate since that experience. I can now put it behind me as a bad mistake which I wont repeat. But I am sure there are hundreds of desperate students or fresh grads out there who are roaming the streets in the hope of getting that much promised job, in the hope that there is some recognition after edit, hoping against hope that their money has not gone down the drain. Should we tell them the truth? that they have been had (like I was)! guess they already know (like I did) but sometimes ignoring the facts helps to postpone the pain.
I hear that this particular institute (edit MAc academy-dadar) has shut down. Thank god for small mercies!