TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
By: Sk Pathak
Kshitij looks tense and tentative as he walks into our second-floor facility with his friend Apoorv, who appears equally downcast. Perched on the edges of the seats, they glance at each other as if asking the other to speak. The meeting has been arranged at their instance to discuss their job-hunting efforts which evidently are going nowhere.
Both friends are about year and a half old B tech graduates from one of the many non-descript private universities which have sprung up in the hinterland of the northern belt over the last two decades or so. Slowly and somewhat demurely Kshitij opens up about their travails of constantly in search of decent employment ever since stepping out of the university. His efforts to put across in broken and disjointed English sentences punctuated with Hindi words here and there are making both of them squirm in their seats. Jobs are either just not available or are too meagerly paid. The campus placement programmes organized by the university had turned out to be a mere formality. Only a few second rung industries had visited which picked mainly the top rankers and some of those who were able to present themselves better. Kshitij and Apoorv with better grades than many, but clearly falling short in ‘other skills’ were overlooked.
Now they are here to spruce up their ‘other skills’ through a crash capsule if we have any. The narrative is all too familiar. Streets are full of trained and untrained youth who are formally educated but do not measure up to the fundamental requirement of jobs which are, as it is, limited in number. Much has been written, circulated, and discussed the dismal scenario but the solutions are hard to come by. Even the search for the solutions is stereotypical with blinkers on. It appears the policymakers, educational institutions, teachers, parents, students, and all other stakeholders are looking for some quick fix means through which the students can be molded into an employable entity – a potion that can be applied or administered a couple of months before the campus placement programme is held or before the passing out. This myopic approach ends up in falsely and superficially equipping the students while serving the ends of the educational institutions.
Presently, while sympathizing with Kshitij and Apoorv we hold out no promises and guarantees. Equipping oneself with personal skills is no short term certificate course aiming to decorate the CV. It is a slow and invasive, practice-oriented package of skills which once acquired sticks to the personality like glue.
PS- Wait for the sequel.