My son now in 10th Std went for a foundation course for IIT-JEE while he was in 8th Std but gave it up after a year.
Many of his friends must be continuing it possibly on parental pressure. India has the largest workforce of engineers thanks to the proliferation of engineering colleges.
I met Arun, a Professor of Engineering while on my way to Chennai last week. He said Tamilnadu has about 500 or more engineering colleges of which only 100 may be of good quality.
When companies do recruitment of fresh engineering grads, they find only one-fifth of them are employable- the rest may not make it to their dream job and end up as clerks or in lowly paid jobs. The system of ranking of colleges by universities themselves has resulted in students and managements focussed on academic merits and not on practical knowledge or innovation, he said.
The IT boom, Y2K, offshore software development all led to a huge requirement of technical talent but now there seems to be an oversupply. This is the effect of Cobweb Theorem at work. Now upto 80,000 seats go vacant in Tamilnadu every year as neighbouring Kerala has also started self-financing colleges.
According to Cobweb theorem in economics, some industries such as education, plantation will attract more investors or participants based on current demand. But as more people start entering the industry, in course of time there will be oversupply or the industry prospects itself may diminish due to various factors. A new potential industry may have evolved by that time, but the pass-outs are not equipped for such a scenario.
Hence there is no reason why people should still run after engineering seats. It was heartening to meet Mr Vijayan Menon today morning on our return trip from Chennai, who has let his daughter to take a break after plus 2, do English orientation programmes and then decide future course of action next year. The other day we met Sucheta Pal, a leading Zumba fitness trainer in Chennai who quit a well-paid job at TCS to pursue her heart's passion- dance and fitness. The fact that her electrical and electronics engineering degree has gone waste or that her initial work in the engineering industry has gone waste did not deter her from plunging into a totally new career.
One of may old friends at college, who has now become an entrepreneur after doing his engineering degree asked me "why you also want your son to join the engineering bandwagon?" Surely, the engineers themselves are feeling engineering as a discipline is losing charm.
Earlier we had the screw driver technology- India colloborated with leading Japan, Korean, US firms to get technology and bring semi-knocked down (SKD) or completely knocked down (CKD) kits, assemble them and sell in their own brand.But now manufactures are getting the entire fabrication done in China which is the manufacturing hub of the world.
So why have such a huge engineering work force unless we are investing heavily in R&D that can be patented and sold abroad?. Arun said the sad part is that entrepreneurship is not promoted in the country. The techies who have bright ideas end up plodding all their lives in companies run by lesser educated people who can't understand the importance of technology.
He said there are lot of opportunities in the media industry which now lacks talent but awareness on this is lacking. Or in e-commerce and services sectors that requires a little of entrepreneurship and risk taking abilities.
That's why the title to this blog: Are we engineering a disaster? I remember people like Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who have campaigned for more funds for basic scientific research and more courses in basic science which is the need of the hour for India.
Tailpiece: In India, it is not uncommon for children to be forced into certain courses much to their dislike. My wife who had a passion for dance and home science ended up doing pharmacy but has now found her passion in Zumba and has become a qualified instructor. Shouldn't we leave our children alone to pursue their passions or should we force something that appears to have good job potential?
Many of his friends must be continuing it possibly on parental pressure. India has the largest workforce of engineers thanks to the proliferation of engineering colleges.
I met Arun, a Professor of Engineering while on my way to Chennai last week. He said Tamilnadu has about 500 or more engineering colleges of which only 100 may be of good quality.
When companies do recruitment of fresh engineering grads, they find only one-fifth of them are employable- the rest may not make it to their dream job and end up as clerks or in lowly paid jobs. The system of ranking of colleges by universities themselves has resulted in students and managements focussed on academic merits and not on practical knowledge or innovation, he said.
The IT boom, Y2K, offshore software development all led to a huge requirement of technical talent but now there seems to be an oversupply. This is the effect of Cobweb Theorem at work. Now upto 80,000 seats go vacant in Tamilnadu every year as neighbouring Kerala has also started self-financing colleges.
According to Cobweb theorem in economics, some industries such as education, plantation will attract more investors or participants based on current demand. But as more people start entering the industry, in course of time there will be oversupply or the industry prospects itself may diminish due to various factors. A new potential industry may have evolved by that time, but the pass-outs are not equipped for such a scenario.
Hence there is no reason why people should still run after engineering seats. It was heartening to meet Mr Vijayan Menon today morning on our return trip from Chennai, who has let his daughter to take a break after plus 2, do English orientation programmes and then decide future course of action next year. The other day we met Sucheta Pal, a leading Zumba fitness trainer in Chennai who quit a well-paid job at TCS to pursue her heart's passion- dance and fitness. The fact that her electrical and electronics engineering degree has gone waste or that her initial work in the engineering industry has gone waste did not deter her from plunging into a totally new career.
One of may old friends at college, who has now become an entrepreneur after doing his engineering degree asked me "why you also want your son to join the engineering bandwagon?" Surely, the engineers themselves are feeling engineering as a discipline is losing charm.
Earlier we had the screw driver technology- India colloborated with leading Japan, Korean, US firms to get technology and bring semi-knocked down (SKD) or completely knocked down (CKD) kits, assemble them and sell in their own brand.But now manufactures are getting the entire fabrication done in China which is the manufacturing hub of the world.
So why have such a huge engineering work force unless we are investing heavily in R&D that can be patented and sold abroad?. Arun said the sad part is that entrepreneurship is not promoted in the country. The techies who have bright ideas end up plodding all their lives in companies run by lesser educated people who can't understand the importance of technology.
He said there are lot of opportunities in the media industry which now lacks talent but awareness on this is lacking. Or in e-commerce and services sectors that requires a little of entrepreneurship and risk taking abilities.
That's why the title to this blog: Are we engineering a disaster? I remember people like Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who have campaigned for more funds for basic scientific research and more courses in basic science which is the need of the hour for India.
Tailpiece: In India, it is not uncommon for children to be forced into certain courses much to their dislike. My wife who had a passion for dance and home science ended up doing pharmacy but has now found her passion in Zumba and has become a qualified instructor. Shouldn't we leave our children alone to pursue their passions or should we force something that appears to have good job potential?
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