Let’s face it. Most IT training institutes in India suck.
The IT training industry has been one of the most profitable businesses in India. But what has been the outcome ?
Thousands of students who have paid huge amounts as fees, undergone sometimes 2/3 or even more years of IT training in all possible IT languages and platforms are jobless. Amongst those who do have jobs, most end up doing computer work like data entry operations which certainly do not need all the IT training that they have undergone. Only a miniscule percentage of students end up in programming jobs which utilize their training & talents. Who is to blame for this fiasco ?
1) There hasn’t been any serious attempt by the Union Government to standardize the IT education in India. There is no state & national level computer exams on par with those in other fields like the Civil services exams, on basis of which the IT industry can recruit students as trainees in their companies which in turn will lead to their career growth up the corporate ladder.
2) The government (State as well as Union) has not made and implemented strict laws to see that the IT education industry is not filled with fly-by night operators. Even big established IT training institutes have cheated many students by false promises. This has to be stopped by law. Defaulters should be severely punished by heavy fines and in serious cases with imprisonment. Regular public notices/lists should be released in press by the state government about institutes who have defaulted or against whom cases have been registered. This will help newcomers decide on the institute to join.
3) All IT final exams in the institutes regardless of the languages and platforms should be held at the national level or atleast the state level. The students should receive percentages and marks based on their scores. Will this lead to copying and other common exam issues ? Certainly not if the students give their exams online, supervised by non-institute people, with each student getting any random paper amongst a set of papers set by IT professionals.
4) Course curriculum. Many institutes even today continue teaching students obsolete languages like basic, cobol (yeah, its still being used but how much ?) etc. In today’s internet age, need-of-the-hour languages, platforms and personnel change. The syllabus should change appropriately. Our IT educated generation should be on par with the latest.
5) Teachers. In most institutes, the teachers are the previous batch students themselves. Okay, I’m not saying that’s bad. But atleast before anyone is handed a class of students who have paid under their noses to learn IT for career prospects, shouldn’t they be learning it from someone who has some real industry experience and/or good knowledge of the subject? Someone who knows the ins and outs of the subject matter, rather than someone who knows only what was taught to him at that very same institute ? Again, a standard government IT Trainers Exam is a must. Anyone who wishes to train students should first pass that tough exam and thereby get certified to train. By law, every institute should be made to display a copy of the trainers certificates of all their teachers in the institute premises.
6) Trainees. Is the government to be blamed for all IT ills ? No. I’ve never understood why the IT industry does not take budding students who have good logic & programming skills as trainees in their companies. Why is every applicant asked for ’Years of experience’ first ?. I myself had to face scores of interviews in Mumbai trying to get an IT job. Many of these interviews were conducted by Managers who were from non-IT departments. It would seem unbelievable to the reader of this article, but some interviewers asked me from a set of prepared question set with answers given below it. All these Managers knew was, any answer different from that given is wrong.
7) Students. I will not blame you for the ills. But certainly before joining any institute by following their mis-leading ads and promises given by ’charming sales pitching’ counsellors, the least you can do is to ask from the students attending them about the institute. Those who have had bad experiences can help others by spreading word about it by mouth or other excellent forums like Mouthshut.com.
Now the question is won’t the government exams for all courses and standardization need money ? Yes it will. Some can be recovered by the government from the training institutes who are earning in lakhs, some can be recovered by keeping a nominal exam fee which the student will pay as part of the course fees (Shouldn’t this too be standardized ?). And since the IT industry has been giving so much money to the government in earnings foreign or otherwise, shouldn’t the government see that this fiasco in IT training industry be stopped rightaway ?
Suggestions welcome about my opinion.
Shailesh.