The Importance of Vocational Education in India

We had some relatives come over in the weekend, from one of those little towns in Andhra Pradesh. Apparently there is a lot of confusion over in AP regarding engineering college admissions because the demand has suddenly outstripped capacity. So, this distant cousin on mine is joining a little-known college in Chennai.

This is the first time I am seeing that guy in my life so I was least bothered by the whole affair. But my uncle sought some kind of confirmation from me that he was doing the right thing, so he told me that his kid is joining the Computer Science and Engineering group and asked me if that is a good field to join.

This may seem perfectly normal and innocent, but it took me by surprise at that time, and although externally I stammered out a "Er... yes, it is the best," internally I was shocked that the basis of choosing his son's department in college was on the popular notion of which group is "good". This is a kid's life we are talking about, and one ought to be making a more informed decision! And then I sighed when I remembered that it wasn't all that different for me either.

Flash back to the year 2000. Things seemd so obvious then... IIT or local college? IIT of course. Mechanical or Chemical or Civil or Ocean engineering? Er, can't I get Computer Science? No? Too bad. Electronics? No? Ok, fine, Mechanical it is. See, the relative demands for the engineering disciplines had left me (and indeed everyone) with the impression that so-and-so group is superior to so-and-so group in terms of scope and jobs and etc. In reality we had little idea of what one actually does in those disciplines, and in any case didn't much bother to match them with our interests. Society says, engineering is better than pure sciences. Society says, CSE is better than EE and ME. Who are we lowly mortals to question the collective wisdom of Society? And how can we be so selfish as to think about our own interests when we have our Duty to Family and Society?

Wel, alright, it wasn't as bad as I am making it out to be, but it is true that I really had no idea what I was doing when I was ticking out my department preferences at the IIT-JEE counselling. I had some vague thoughts of getting into CSE because I liked computers, but then I couldn't be in an IIT. The "best" group I could get at IIT Madras was the dual degree in mechanical engineering, so I took it. Nobody, not even my brother, had bothered to give me any real counselling and tell me what was involved in taking a particular engineering major. For instance, I knew that Civil engineers planned cities, but it never occurred to me that planning road networks would involve discrete event simulation. Not that I knew what discrete event simulation was, but the point is, everybody assumed I wouldn't understand. So how am I supposed to make an informed decision if I don't understand? Why, follow the crowd!

The truth is that schools these days are so fixated upon their students getting good marks that they don't think beyond that. In spite of being in one of the best schools in the state, I received no vocational education. Having landed in Mechanical engineering, I realized that I had neither the interest nor the aptitude for it. Chemical or Civil or Ocean engineering were at least equally good choices for me, and I realized that if I had to learn electrical engineering in order to learn electronics, I would have died, so much did I hate my electrical technology courses. I managed to save my career by carefully choosing my minor stream, and jumping master's specializations from product design to intelligent manufacturing. I had finally been able to make informed decisions, and both decisions worked out splendidly for me. I had saved not just my career, but my life.

I shudder to think what would have happened if I'd got a better rank and ended up in the bachelor's program instead of the dual degree one. The Hand of Fate has given me second chances thus far, and I'm not the type to throw them away.

Flash forward to the present. The next question that my uncle asked me was, "Is that a new laptop that I saw in your room?" I frowned, "I don't have a laptop here," and my cousin interjected in exasperation, "That's called a desktop, Dad, not a laptop!"

Something about that exchange was so familiar, so natural, that I can't help but smile whenever I think about it. Perhaps kids these days are not as stupid as we were at their age. Parents will be parents, out of touch with technology and unable to guide their children at the crucial phases. But the youngsters today have the media and the internet, and are far better informed than we were. This kid had insisted on joining the CSE department even at the cost of landing in an unknown college, so he might actually know what he's doing. Might.

Cheers,
Prashanth.