Tuesday

05


May , 2020
Prioritising technical teachers’ training
17:39 pm

Debasish Bhattacharyya


 

Concern for effective technical teachers’ training is increasing the world over. No country can afford to ignore the impact of technology. Indeed, the fast advances made in all technical and industrial fields in recent decades have determined the very contours of contemporary civilisation. These changes call for corresponding progress in technical education if technology is to be utilised to its full advantage and for the betterment of people and advancement of society.

Technical teachers’ training should be first on the list of priorities if technical education at all levels is to be developed and expanded. It is they who form the link between the educational system and the world of industry, agriculture, business and other occupational areas. They are responsible for the education and training of the increasing numbers of skilled workers and technicians needed for economic and technical progress. The training of technical teachers thus poses a great challenge to a developing country like ours.

According to the Indian Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, India has 6214 engineering and technology institutions admitting 2.9 million students and 1.5 million fresh engineers are released into the job market every year. Sadly, of the estimated one-and-a-half million graduates who pass out of India’s engineering schools every year, less than 1% land with jobs in the top 100 companies. It’s learnt that most of the technical graduates are unemployable for lack of requisite skills. Lack of in-depth understanding of technical information, lack of client-handling skills and insufficient knowledge across domains are believed to be the major skill gaps in the area. Industry seeks people with 90% skill, but 90% of academic activities are still based on textual education reflecting a vast academia-industry gap.

A few other surveys show that over 80% of the Indian engineers are not employable. The employability has not improved in last several years. This is also reflective of the fact that only 13 lakh students took admissions in 2019-20, with seven lakh of them joining undergraduate programmes while India has total 27 lakh seats comprising of undergraduate (14 lakh), diploma (11 lakh) and postgraduate (1.8 lakh) courses.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies make headway into the workplace, a lot of mundane, repetitive tasks will be taken over by virtual personal assistants and chatbots making room for individuals to focus more on creative and cognitive tasks. Gartner, Inc. predicts that these technologies will replace almost 69% of the manager’s routine workload by 2024.

Technical teachers are the key movers of skills training. To be able to produce learners equipped with technical skills that could meet the skill requirements, there is a need to improve and enhance the pedagogical and technical skills of technical teachers.

With the view of updating the knowledge and skills of technical teachers, it’s important to foster linkages with industry and other institutions for promotion of quality and relevant training. It will help expand employment size and also improve the quality of employment.

AICTE, the technical education regulator of the central government is learnt to have developed a specific training module for technical teachers suited to their needs. They will be required to undergo eight modules of training and then a three-week internship with the industry. It is important for technical teachers to be trained because they require different kinds of skill sets as compared to other teachers and they need to be more abreast with the latest technological developments.

It’s also learnt that young professionals who aspire to teach in technical institutions will have to sit for an examination in line with the B.Ed qualification for school teachers and the National Eligibility Test (NET) for college and university teachers. These are well thought out initiatives but there is more to be done.

 

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