CAREER GUIDANCE SERIES - OPTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RURAL STUDENTS IN INDIA1

By : Prof. (Dr. ) Trilok Kumar Jain Dean, ISBM Suresh Gyan Vihar University Jaipur 302017 Mobile : 9414430763 Jain.tk@gmail.com

The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author. The author is open to criticism and is willing to proceed further in the direction, but requires support. The likeminded persons are invited to join to work together to help our country. The author welcomes suggestions / support / ideas from the reader.

A person can make a great career with the aid of following tools : a. A great vision (future perspective about what a person wants to become) b. A great learning environment (group of students working together on some common projects so that they learn from each other and build capabilities) c. Identifying the skills that can be acquired given certain background and strengths d. Identifying the skills required by the society e. Relating the skills to the requirements of the society and moulding those skills further for the benefit of the society

When we talk about career, there are many misnomers in India, which should be understood. There is a rampant movement to spoil the minds of the youth today with these ideas : a. A mad race for degree rather than building capabilities b. A mad race for IITs and IIMs rather than encouraging students to learn at institutions which can give them better connectivity to industries / real life experiences c. A mad race to join institutions which offer campus placements rather then encouraging students to opt for entrepreneurial options.

Whenever I talk about career, I ask the students to build capabilities. Traditionally India has always been a place for building capabilities. If you ever get a chance to read old stories, you will find that there are mentions that the ancient India always encouraged building capabilities. People used to send their children to Gurus to acquire skills. A prince or a princess with 64 skills would be most appreciated. The 64 skills are as under : - 1) singing, 2) instrumental music, 3) dancing, 4) painting, 5) forehead adornments, 6) making decorative floral and grain designs on the floor, 7) home and temple flower arranging, 8) personal grooming, 9) mosaic tiling, 10) bedroom arrangements, 11)creating music with water, 12) splashing and squirting with water, 13) secret mantras, 14) making flower garlands, 15) head adornments, 16) dressing, 17) costume decorations, 18) perfumery, 19) jewelry making, 20) magic and illusions, 21) ointments for charm and virility, 22) manual dexterity, 23) skills of cooking, eating and drinking, 24) beverage and dessert preparation, 25) sewing (making and mending garments), 26) embroidery, 27) playing vina and drum, 28) riddles and rhymes, 29) poetry games, 30)tongue twisters and difficult recitation, 31) literary recitation, 32) drama and story telling, 33) verse composition game, 34) furniture caning, 35)****** devices and knowledge of sexual arts, 36) crafting wooden furniture, 37)architecture and house construction, 38) distinguishing between ordinary and precious stones and metals, 39) metal-working, 40) gems and mining, 41) gardening and horticulture, 42) games of wager involving animals, 43) training parrots and mynas to speak, 44) hairdressing, 45) coding messages, 46) speaking in code, 47) knowledge of foreign languages and dialects, 48) making flower carriages, 49) spells, charms and omens, 50)making simple mechanical devices, 51) memory training, 52) game of reciting verses from hearing, 53) decoding messages, 54) the meanings of words, 55) dictionary studies, 56) prosody and rhetoric, 57) impersonation, 58) artful dressing, 59) games of dice, 60) the game of akarsha (a dice game played on a board), 61) making dolls and toys for children, 62) personal etiquette and animal training, 63) knowledge of dharmic warfare and victory, and 64) physical culture.

Thus the traditional Indian wisdom always valued skills and capabilities. It is the present education system (the so called modern education system), which has created a mad rush for degrees and institutions. How does degree or institution help a person is beyond understanding. A person takes a degree in mechanical engineering, but doesnt know to prepare a machine. A person takes a degree in metallurgy, but doesnt know how to convert iron ore to steel. A traditional Indian Lohar or a Sonar is better, as he understands the skills and capabilities required in metallurgy.

The same story goes with all disciplines. A student acquires degree without acquirising capabilities. The mad race for degrees is so much damaging that the student wants to get a degree by hook or crook. There are many agents, who offer them such facilties. These degree holders are useless persons from the following perspectives : a. b. c. d. They have a false ego and they are not willing to execute physical work They have no apetite to learn from practitioners They believe that they have learned everthing and they just need to make money They have no respect for traditional knowledge that India has built over centuries

There are also the coaching institutions, which encourage students to take up admissions only in IITs and IIMs and which encourage students only for campus placement. I am not against IITs or IIMs, but I am against this mad race. Why should campus placements be considered attractive? Why cant we encourage students to become entrepreneur in his own city or rural area and enable other people to generate employment? Why shouldnt we help our students in developing a vision of a small entrepreneur rather than dreaming for campus placement?

70% of India still lives in villages. There is a continuous effort to uproot this India and relocate it to metro cities. These initiatives are based on vested interests of large

companies, MNCs and real estate companies. But the real challenge is to enable the youth from rural areas to create entrepreneurial ventures in rural India itself. The real challenge is to enable the students from villages to acquire skills and capabilities and work for the development of villages. The real challenges are to present role models in the form of rural entrepreneurs.

What should a student from village do ? A student from a village must identify his capabilities, interests and put them in the context of his own village and identify the skills that if he acquire will be valued in the village. He must acquire those skills which can enable him to serve his village. If his village needs a school, he should visualize opening a great school. If his village needs a tractor repairing centre he should visualize being a great tractor mechanic and an automobile engineer with capabilities in understating automobiles for the villages. If his village needs a veterinary doctor, he should visualize being a great veterinary doctor. If his village needs a doctor, he should visualize himself as a doctor.

I will be very happy if a student joins IIT or IIM, but I will be more happy, if a student from a village joins nearby ITI and learns skills which can be used in his own village / town and builds capabilities which can enable him to become an entrepreneur (rather then dreaming for a campus placement drive by an MNC). I will be more happy if the students from villages are given better exposure about how they can transform their villages.

There is a need to give better exposure to youth of villages through ICT and modern mass media. This can be done through following : a. Present case studies on rural entrepreneurs and project them as role models b. Present case studies on innovators and creative youth of rural India c. Present rural institutions as a role model for the rural youth and enable them to use their small resources in better way to create an educational model that suits local requirements (rather then praising those institutons which are working for MNCs and preparing youth for the future requirements of MNCs).