Indian engineers are right now being treated shabbily, almost comically by business veterans. In an event, HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh has made a very vague, almost insulting statement regarding Indian engineers and fresh passouts.
During the launch of “Deepak Parekh Institute Chair” at IIT Madras, he said that four-fifth of all Indian engineering graduates are unemployable.
This means, as per HDFC Chief, 80% of engineering freshers cannot be hired anywhere in the corporate environment.
The most amusing is the factorization done by business veterans, regarding employability and skills levels of Indian engineers. As if, just out of impulse, they blurt out a number to ridicule the engineering education, and directly demotivate students who right now pursuing engineering.
For instance, in February this year, Capgemini India CEO made a daring claim that 65% of Indian IT employees are not trainable. He had directly blamed the education system, and mainly engineering stream, when he said, “For some unknown reasons, we call it a knowledge-driven industry. If you have that kind of talent, and then making them learn the existing technology itself is such a huge challenge,”
There are 1.5 million engineering students who pass out from 3300 approved engineering colleges, pan-India. If we believe HDFC Chief’s views, then 1.2 million students are simply not employable. We will term it as an irresponsible statement.
In case there is some solid scientific study behind such claims of four-fifth engineers being unemployable or 65% of IT employees (and engineers) being untrainable, then it is somewhat justified. But without any such studies, it is really amusing how experienced business leaders share these facts, and create ripples across the educational system.
HDFC Chief’s Solution For Improving Education
Education of teachers has been attributed as the factor for deteriorating state of engineering education by Deepak Parekh. He emphasized on superior education of those who teach, so that the students are able to get the best knowledge.
He said, “Given our rapidly changing world, it is the teachers who first need skilling and training so they in turn can teach a curriculum that is relevant to the times..”
Besides the cases of HDFC Chief and Capgemini India CEO, there has been several reports as well, which claimed that a said percentage of engineering/management students are not employable, or trainable.
In 2015, one report stated that 97% of engineers cannot speak English, and 20% are not employable for software jobs. This created a huge controversy, as we received angry comments from established engineers, ridiculing this report.
Another report in 2015 stated that 8 out 10 engineers are not employable. Not only engineering, but management has also been targeted. As per a 2016 report, only 7% of management graduates are employable, and average salary is only Rs 10,000 of a fresher.
Our opinion: Insulting engineering students, by sharing and claiming such random facts and numbers by business leaders should be stopped. Engineering is one of the most important professions, and our country needs confident engineers. If there is a fault, then correct it, but please don’t demoralize them.
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