Hemantha Kalam - 58 "Educated or Skilled?"

Two independent happenings triggered this blog.

The first one was a seemingly innocuous query by one of our relatives on my daughter seeking her education overseas. Recently when my daughter went overseas for doing her Masters in a subject of social sciences, the relative wanted to check what connection is there between the UG (under-graduation in Chemical Engineering) that she did and the proposed PG (post-graduation) she has planned for herself now and whether doing this course could fetch her a better paying job and quickly too! We politely responded that this is her aspiration as a part of her education plans.

The second one was where one of the Indian ministers from the central government who apparently said that there are ‘jobs aplenty but companies say North Indians lack skill..’ (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jobs-aplenty-but-companies-say-north-indians-lack-skill-santosh-gangwar/articleshow/71142317.cms).

The poor minister is being taken to task for stating a fact. I fully agree with the minister on this. My only disagreement could be on the geography. May be the rest of Indians, especially from south of India, could be a tad better, but, generally, the skills of most of the new generation of Indians can be safely said as susceptible. Between two ear plugs and crap in their hands, most of them are shutting out their brain and whiling away their precious resources – time and common sense and thus the ability to develop skills.

I know that immediately all those genuine and pseudo patriots (the later would make more noise and louder too) would take cudgels against my statement, but as a parent and also as a serious teacher, I am concerned with this development in the country. India, presently, is bestowed with the greatest wealth in the world – youth; and if that youth is going awry and directionless, shouldn’t it be a concern of any parent or a government?

Having said that let me relate an anecdote I had recently experienced.

I have been requested to undertake a teaching programme for students pursuing under-graduation as well as post graduation in social services. Their apparent final aspiration / destination is to plonk themselves in some Human Resources (HR) related job. And, all of them want the best of the companies to hire their services, well nothing wrong about that. But what was wrong is the casual approach they had for the learning.

My classes were for 24 hours, spread across 3 days with intermittent breaks once every session that could range between 1.5 to 2.0 hours each. There were about 60 students. Hardly 20% of them were attentive and maybe 25% (totally) were listening. For the rest of the 75%, it was a free way. Despite the clear announcement by me that I would welcome only those attentive and participative, all students used to come and turn to be a nuisance for the rest of the class. Their only need is the certificate they would be receiving from the institute for participating in the programme which perhaps they intend touting to wangle a good job. Caveat recruiters! Don’t get fooled by certificates! Evaluate before deciding!

I was agog that this institute caters to the need of people in the HR and social sector and if this is the attitude of the students, what development can be expected in either of these crucial sectors in the country, is anyone’s guess. If I am sitting in any of the evaluating interview panels, I, perhaps, would not be impressed by any of this ‘riff-raff’ in getting a job!

Very recently some interview with a western gentleman was doing the rounds on the social media where he was expostulating that the present educational institutions are redundant as new systems like Siri, Alexa and what else will do all work for you.

Perhaps our educational institutions already know that that during 2019-20 not a single Indian Institution is listed among the top 300 educational institutions in the world (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#survey-answer / https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/3/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats).          

So much to be said our systems and quality! The worst is lack of research inclination and a suitable atmosphere for the same in the country. It is so sad to note that the most of the research (yes, I cannot generalise, I know) is suspected not to be original. And one of the deterrents is mostly the lack of timely and competent guidance and the favours expected for the same, depending on the gender of the research scholar!

Even if we have artificial intelligence (AI) and robots for doing everything, someone needs the skill to create the AI and the robots that are needed to be evolved with times and needs. And for that, how does one get the learning and skill temperament? Or are we expecting a time like that depicted in the Magnus comics half a century ago where robots create themselves and only to eventually destroy themselves.

And if the institutions are not creating such conducive atmosphere, students continue to be disoriented and end up misguided.

Anyway I am digressing and returning to the point on hand, we should understand clearly what education is and what skills are.

Education is inculcating attitude of giving to society, helping, moral values and positive thinking, which could be formal, informal and non-formal, so that a person refines and re-defines herself/himself as a worthy human being. Education goes beyond earning degrees.

This is the most important factor about education that all Indians, who think that a degree is a passport for a job should learn, bear it in mind and acquire skills. In my professional life of over four decades I came across innumerable occasions when a person who cannot even express herself/himself demanding a job just because s/he has a degree.

Every human being should learn as many skills as s/he can. It is said that Emperor Aurangzeb used to support his family by making hats so that he will not take any money for himself or for his family from the government’s coffers (I have never seen Aurangzeb and so have to rely on hearsay for this)! Will our political leaders acquire this skill of avoiding taking money from the government and will the people understand the need to acquire some skill?

Skill is the ability to complete a task well and in time. Expertise is to do the task with finesse and so that there cannot be questions on the finished product.

While there are any number of job skills, there are at least eight major life skills that all human beings should either possess or acquire.

1)    Ability to work under pressure

2)    Adaptability

3)    Communication

4)    Conflict resolution

5)    Decision making

6)    Leadership

7)    Self motivation and

8)    Time Management

Honestly, if we take stock among the evolving generation of India, how many of them do you think would be having all or more of the above seven life skills? A puny size. If not, why do you think there is so much of conflicts at work place, among couples, more often resulting in suicides?

Both education and skills could be manifested in a person as a combination but need not necessarily be together. An ‘educated person’ (in Indian parlance) could be without any skills. We see them by millions. Skilled people might not be educated. Many of the Barbers, Cobblers, Potters and Weavers in India are exceptionally skilled but might or might not have been educated. Bargaining and negotiating are skills but being educated helps in there. There are any number of skills that are required for livelihoods and living, but most of the new generation seems to be piggy backing more on automation – both by doing and by brains. And systematically the political system, through populist approach is creating more and more lazy citizens making them useless over a period of time.

The biggest psychological block we, in India, have is that we expect a piece of paper called a degree to become a passport to a job. I have heard the lamenting of many saying that s/he is ‘qualified’ but not getting a job. Then they blame on reservations etc., etc. True, reservations are indeed playing havoc with the education system in the country where a certain section of people could be lulled into false hopes and not realizing the ground realities.

So this brings us to the question; ‘Educated or Skilled or both’?

We have to address this on a war footing and re-calibrate the entire education system in the country towards it while also factoring the current trends and future requirements. Coaches, Mentors, Teachers and Trainers need to be re-oriented. If not,  it could be too late to suddenly realise that the people in the country are so lazy and skill-less that they cannot defend themselves, the country on its frontiers or on its policies. To what use would such youth be, then?

Pray tell me!

Till then, 

Krutagjnatalu (Telugu), Nanri (Tamil), Dhanyavaadagalu (Kannada), Nanni (Malayalam), Dhanyavaad (Hindi), Dhanyosmi (Sanskrit), Thanks (English), Dhonyavaad (Bangla), Dhanyabad (Oriya), Gracias (Spanish), Grazie (Italian), Danke Schon (Deutsche), Merci (French), Obrigado (Portuguese), Shukraan (Arabic), Shukriya (Urdu), Bohoma Sthuthiyi (Sinhalese) Aw-koon (Khmer), Kawp Jai Lhai Lhai (Laotian), Kob Kun Krab (Thai),Asante (Kiswahili), Maraming Salamat sa Lahat (Pinoy-Tagalog-Filipino), Tack (Swedish),Fa'afetai (Samoan), Terima Kasih (Bahasa Indonesian) and Tenkyu (Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea).

Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy

Chennai, India