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| Thursday, June 12, 2008
IT gets a thumbs down in online career counselling
Chennai: “Please do not go for Computer Science or IT
because the job opportunities are decreasing and it will be
worse in four years’ time.” Sounds unusual? It was,
in more ways than one.
Not only does this advice from educationist M. Anandakrishnan
fly in the face of the conventional wisdom fuelling the rush
of students to the software sector, it also appeared in an unlikely
format: online chat.
In India’s first such government-organised career counselling
programme, over a hundred Class 12 students interacted with
Dr. Anandakrishnan in the same way they chat with their friends.
Using the language of netizens – “do u think i shd
do ece or eee 4 cutoff=192?” – the students asked
for advice on the scope of various courses, the reputation of
institutions and their prospects in next month’s counselling
process.
Sitting in Rajaji Bhavan, surrounded by a crowd of officials
from the National Informatics Centre and the state Department
of Employment and Training, which organised the session, Dr.
Anandakrishnan patiently dictated answers to an official who
couldn’t type quite as fast as the experienced GenNext
questioners.
“Electronics industry is growing in India…There
is a great future for civil engineering…Biomedical engineering
is a highly specialised field with limited job opportunities
in India…I do not advise you to take up IT,” Dr.
Anandakrishnan was very clear in the direction of his advice
to students.
Coming from a man who is chairman of IIT-Kanpur and the Madras
Institute of Development Studies as well as the former vice
chancellor of Anna University, the advice carries weight.
“Students and parents are running from pillar to post
to get information on these things,” he said, pointing
out that they often got biased advice from institutes, consultants
and relatives. “There is no one to give them authoritative,
unbiased, true, factual advice. That is where this site [ www.employment.tn.gov.in/chat]
can play an important role,” he said.
Labour Minister T.M. Anbarasan, who inaugurated the programme,
announced that a similar session via video-conferencing will
be organised in September. Such online career counselling offered
opportunities for students in rural areas to clear their doubts
with eminent education experts in Chennai, he said.
On Thursday, a medical professor will answer questions from
4 to 5 p.m. on the site, while general education will be the
theme on Friday.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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