Are skills getting priority in our education system ?

This speaks volumes about the quality of our education system, which consists of 80% theory with little exposure to real-life situations and hands-on experience. In our system, focus is still more on issuing degrees or diplomas and less on skill development.

When The Hans India spoke to people on the issue, almost all of them emphasised the need to impart skills suitable for industry to the students through measures like internships, intense practical training, etc.,

Skill development is a must to make technical or non-technical students employable. I congratulate 'The Hans India' for undertaking campaigns that are beneficial to the society. Mere degrees and diplomas are not suffice. Skill development is a must for making onself employable in the jobs market. Actually, skill development should be integrated with the degrees and diplomas. Private institutions can reasonably charge for the skill development training.

Raja Sekhar, Associate Professor, YVSR CET, Anantapur

Governments, students, college managements and industries are now singing the skill development song, recognising the need for the same and the inadequacy of the degrees and diplomas. The government should formulate action plan in this regard and find ways and means to ensure that all students are benefitted by the skill development corporation. The government is even thinking of launching a Skill development university. How it will help the students studying in multiple colleges is the question. All said and done, skill development plays a crucial role in churning out job-ready candidates.

Dr K. Anitha, Asst Professor, Department of Chemistry, S K University

Even PhD degrees of traditional education would not be useful for settling in life because all job opportunities are linked with skill-based education system. In olden days, it was very easy for students to secure jobs just with degree certificate as the competitive exams were conducted in a a simple manner with easy questions. This kind of scenario continued up to 1990. After introduction of skill education, there was remarkable change in the job opportunities, especially multinational companies in private sector offering jobs with huge salaries for those who are qualified in skill education like communication and IT. In view of the revolutionary changes in the education system, both Central and state governments are keen on promoting skill-based education.

P Venugopala Reddy, District Information and Public Relations Officer, YSR district

Lack of skills is a serious concern these days. Most of my Ph.D co-scholars ended up as Sachivalayam volunteers and class IV employees. That's when I understood that developing emotional intelligence, connecting with the subject along with honing entrepreneurial skills should be an essential pursuit of a student. Apparently, getting academic degrees is not as essential as developing competencies. Owing to poor quality of college infrastructure and sub-standard teaching, the value of a degree has definitely stooped to its lowest. This trend has to change. Being a soft skills trainer, I strongly opine that education should be holistic in nature and nurture praxis.

Challa Krishnaveer Abhishek, soft skills trainer-cum-faculty, Andhra University

Engineering colleges are conducting skill development courses from the engineering second year to improve skills of the students. In addition, IITs are offering online skill development courses for engineering students. The engineering students who have interest are doing hard work and improving their skills and getting good jobs. Self-motivation is also important. The parents should motivate children to improve their skills. The students studying polytechnic courses have no awareness on improvement of skills. The AP Skill Development Corporation is conducting the training classes to improve skills of the students.

K Siva Kumar, Assistant Professor, CSE Dept, RVR&JC Engineering College, Guntur

Just awarding degrees and diplomas without proper skills and technical knowledge has no use to the country and the students. The government has to take initiative and ensure skill development to the students in addition to the academic education. Ours is he agriculture-based country and plenty of employment opportunities will be available if we develop agro-based industries and food processing industries. Students should be given technical training in various professions which are based on agriculture.

P S Bose, Trader, Vijayawada