“3 p.c. engineers are job ready…”
“Only 17.45% of engineers are employable, while 3.51% are appropriately trained to be directly deployed on projects…”
“As per the experts, India has a combined workforce of 145 million and yet our industry is struggling to meet its demand. The reason is 85% of the workforce is unemployable..”
These are some of shocking revelations of Indian employability report. The expectations of every parent are that Students, as they leave their colleges, should be walking into some job without any further “training.” This sounds reasonable but the reality is different. To do this, our educational Institutions are supposed to be in the business of “Training” whereas in reality, they are busy “Educating!”
What is the difference? It’s the difference between know how, do how and know why. It’s the difference between, say, knowing how a plane flies, being trained as a pilot to fly a plane and being educated as an aeronautical engineer & knowing why the plane flies, & then being able to improve its design so that it will fly better. Clearly all are necessary, if I am flying from here to there I want to be in the plane with a trained pilot (though if the pilot knows the Why as well, then all the better, particularly in an emergency).
The difference, also, is fundamentally that Know How is learning to put one in others’ shoes. This is the first stage in education — in contrast to learning to Think Your Own Thoughts. This is the reason that Know Why is the final state of education. Indeed, both Know How and Know Why are essential at one moment or another, and they interact all the time; but at the same time, the centre of gravity of education is and must be in the Know Why. For emphasis in Do How & Know Why, go to a training college.
Additional aspect is that when an educated student steps into a job, the ability to think one’s own thoughts is also the source of flexibility, so that, as the job requirements change or the job enlarges, the educated student is able to move on with the changes. This should be a central issue with employers, but rarely is this case.
If only trained, then, if the job changes, the student has to be retrained. Thus education becomes important. Does it mean are all students fit to be at the university? It is their individual’s choice. However, if a student says that he is not keen on theoretical stuff but demanded to give him the equation and how to use it, then it means he wants to be trained, not educated.
Engineering education is expanding but quality engineers aren’t being produced by it. The challenge is to provide the adequate skills to the students and convert them into a productive labour pool. The challenges faced by the Corporate are, Attrition, lack of employable talent and managing the talent. This supply chain is getting weak because of lack of recruiting pools.
How to bridge this gap? In this fast changing business environment, the only way to bridge this gap is to provide adequate training to the employees of the organization and equipping the employees with requisite skills. Kaizen Institute India with its Education & Training Vertical is here to develop Operational Excellence Catalysts by providing them training as to improve the requisite skills.
