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and training in a wide variety of trades can assure us of a good opportunity for funded autonomous institutions for
and disciplines at a certificate, diploma, employment and successful career. providing pre & in-service training to
degree, postgraduate degree and doc- However, country’s technical educa- the teachers and staff of Degree and
toral levels in institutions located tion is beset with many shortcomings. Diploma level training institutions.
throughout the country. India’s predicament of substandard It’s also mandated for conducting
The main objective of the technical engineering education is now widely various activities related to quality im-
education is that, it makes the students believed. It has left the engineers com- provement of the technical education
skilled and technically fit for the indus- ing out of most of the Institutes almost system of the country. The Govt of India,
tries. In other words people with sound unemployable. There have been some in 2003, accorded national status to this
technical knowledge cannot remain intermittent efforts to improve the situ- institute, (along with the three sister
unemployed. ation but most of the efforts either fell institutes) in recognition of the contri-
A few observations seem pertinent. short of desired level or failed to bring bution of these institutes for the expert
First, there has been increasing con- about any significant changes. service rendered for overall improve-
cern about the employment gap and However, in order to scale up the ment of quality of Technical Education
skills gap. Second, more than half of overall technical education in the North System.
India’s population of 1.3 billion is below Eastern Region a regional workshop of The 3-day workshop has been
the age of 25 and finally, the annual de- the Directors of Technical Education very methodically organized, with
mand for new jobs in India is estimated and Principals of polytechnic educa- well-curated content. The workshop’s
at 12-15 million. programme schedule set the tone
According to the All India Survey for an atmosphere where people felt
2018 by the Association for Democratic Technology is comfortable deliberating, expressing
Reforms (ADR) covering 534 Lok Sabha changing at a brisk their thoughts and learning from one
constituencies, spread among various another. The individual participants
demographics, ‘better employment pace. Realising the brought to the fore significant issues
opportunities’ tops the priorities of dream of modern ranging from shortage of faculties to
voters — it comes as no surprise though lack of internet connection, from poor
given the state of affairs. India lies infrastructure to outdated laboratory
“The single most important thing equipments to severe supply shortage
I find missing in our education sys- greatly with efficient of electricity and water.
tem is its ability to help individuals ways of skilling, Although All India Council for Tech-
understand why they are studying nical Education (AICTE) had assured to
what they’re studying; what are their up-skilling and address some of the issues but the onus
strengths and how can they impact re-skilling of the is on the state governments’ interven-
society,” said Ketan Kapoor, CEO and tions. The economic development and
co-founder, Mettl, an assessment and country’s rising youth growth of a nation depends largely on
skill-measurement company. “The sec- population technical hands. And, therefore India is
ond reason is this culture of working to more meaningfully prioritize quality
really hard, to aim to be a perfectionist. technical education to boost the pros-
It is important to understand that the tion of North Eastern Region was held perity of the nation.
student or the prospective employee is recently (25-27 April, 2019) in Guwahati. India is in an awful mess given that
competing not just among peer groups It was hosted by Directorate of Techni- unemployability is a bigger worry
in India but globally,” he added. cal Education, Assam under the aegis of than unemployment. Technology is
India has been witnessing the age of National Institute of Technical Teachers’ changing at a brisk pace, so much so
science and technology for long result- Training & Research (NITTTR), Kolkata. that it’s challenging to grasp. Thus re-
ing in a huge demand of technical edu- As many as six Directors of Technical alising the dream of modern India lies
cation. The pattern of life evolving in Education belonging to various states, greatly with efficient ways of skilling,
the age is very much different from the 40 Principals of different Polytechnic up-skilling and re-skilling of country’s
one we find in our society even some colleges from North Eastern Region rising youth population. The larger
years back. and faculties and experts from NITTTR question is whether governments both
Technical education contributes attended the workshop. at the centre and states will be able
immensely to the education system in NITTTR, Kolkata, was the first among to crack the unemployability prob-
general and plays an essential role in four such institutes (other three be- lem, or will the problem crack the
the social and economic development ing at Chandigarh, Bhopal & Chennai) governments.
of our country. Besides, in this age of established by the Dept. of Education,
joblessness, only technical education MHRD, Govt. of India as fully centrally letters@tehelka.com

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