Arun Bangotra
India has one of the largest technical manpower in the world. However, compared to its population it is not significant and there is a tremendous scope of improvement in this area. In India, the emphasis has been on general education, with vocational education at the receiving end. This has resulted in large number of educated people remaining unemployed. This phenomenon has now been recognised by the planners and hence there is a greater thrust on vocationalisation of education. Another shortcoming in the area of technical and vocational education is that till now, the number of engineers graduating is more than the diploma holders. This is creating an imbalance, as more workforces are required at the lower level. Hence more polytechnics are being opened now. A Nation-wide scheme of “Sub-mission on Polytechnics” has also been launched. Under this scheme new polytechnics are set up in every district of the state not having one already. These Polytechnics will be established with Central funding and over 700 will be set up through PPP and Private funding. Women’s Hostels will also be set up in all the government polytechnics. The existing Government Polytechnics will also be modernized in PPP Mode. Efforts will also be made to increase intake capacity by using space, faculty and other facilities in the existing Polytechnics in shifts. In our state 12 Polytechnics were functioning till now and from this year Government has opened the Polytechnics in each district to provide the Technical Education to the youth of our state especially in rural area and this education has received a boost with more funds being allocated for the purpose from Government of India. Besides, it is also being ensured that the marginalised sections of the society, including women, get adequate representation in these technical courses. It can thus be hoped that Technical education will play a major role in improving the lives of the people of India.
What are Polytechnics?
Polytechnics have been training youngsters at an early age for specialized industry functions. As the name suggests, a ‘Polytechnic’ has traditionally been an institution that offers education in many arts and sciences at the diploma level. Since most of them offer education to improve the practical and technical skills of the students, they have a clear vocational orientation. “Polytechnics play a crucial role in providing excellent education and training in all vocational programmes, especially when it comes to practical skills and hands on jobs”. Polytechnic education in India contributes significantly to its Economic Development. In our country polytechnics are set up and run by the State governments or are private institutions with varying degrees of government aid, offering diploma and certificate courses that can be done after Class 10th. In J&K all the Government and Private Polytechnics are affiliated with State Board of Technical Education. The Polytechnics offer three year generalized diploma courses in conventional disciplines such as Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. During the last two decades many Polytechnics started offering courses in other disciplines such as Electronics, Computer Science, Medical Lab technology, Architectural Assistantship etc. In addition, many institutions are also offering diploma programmes in areas like Leather Technology, Wood Technology, and Food Technology etc. Many diploma programmes are also being offered exclusively for women in Women’s Polytechnics such as in Garment Technology, Beauty Culture and Textile Design. Polytechnics are meant to provide skills after class X and the duration of diploma programmes is 3 years, which means, the trainee becomes employable at the age of 19 years. Polytechnics are also offering post diploma and advanced diploma programmes of 1- 2 years duration in different specializations.
The aim of the Polytechnic education is to create a pool of skill based manpower to support shop floor and field operations as a middle level link between technicians and engineers. The pass-outs of Diploma level Institutions in Engineering & Technology play an important role in managing shop-floor operations. It is further an established fact that small & medium Industry prefer to employ Diploma Holders because of their special skills in reading and interpreting drawings, estimating, costing and billing, supervision, measurement, testing, repair, maintenance etc. The present student intake in degree and diploma level technical institutions is 7 lakhs approx, and 3.5 lakhs respectively. The ratio of degree to diploma holders is around 2:1, whereas ideally it should be 1:3. This is because of more private participation in the engineering sector compared to the diploma sector. There is also a societal perception that degrees command a premium in the job market rather than diplomas.
Why Polytechnics?
I met a student in my career belonging to a very poor family from a village in Jammu, who was a bright student in school, but felt constrained by his circumstances to opt for more job-oriented education after Class 10th. Thankfully, while cutting short his school education, he found a way out of sacrificing his ambition to be an engineer. He enrolled for a diploma in Mechanical Engineering at Govt. Polytechnic Bikram Chowk, Jammu. This was in 2008. Today he is manager in a leading manufacturing company in Delhi, and has reason to feel satisfied and secure in his career. “My family’s economic insecurity as well as the responsibility I had for my younger siblings ended my dream of joining an engineering college after completing higher secondary. But I still had the leeway to do an engineering diploma. That is what I did and got the job at soon after getting through the course,” he says as if underlining the important role polytechnics have been playing in India’s current education system.
How popular are they?
With about 10-12 percent seats in engineering degree courses remaining unfilled, according to the data published by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and mushrooming of numerous institutes offering courses in journalism, fashion design and so on, it is rather difficult to appreciate the need for polytechnics. Polytechnic graduates are responsible for executing the work as per the specifications and guidelines. For instance, a diploma-holding engineer might be placed on site for projects whereas a B.Tech holder would be involved in planning, analysing and designing. A B.Tech, who has made much larger investments of time and money in his education, might not be interested in the former. As for the numbers, the intake in Polytechnics is on the rise. In recent years, the number of students in polytechnics of our state has grown over previous years. Majority of the students who join Polytechnics are from rural area as they cannot afford to go to an engineering college.
At present maximum students in Polytechnics are enrolled for courses in Mechanical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering as these courses are more in demand in market.
Many of the private companies in our state and outside generally recruit the polytechnic pass-outs as they are ready to work at lower remuneration, are willing to learn, posses much more technical skills than the engineering graduates and also their chances of leaving early are minimal. Moreover after earning Diploma in engineering many of the students are joining the engineering colleges for a B.Tech and they have the advantage of getting admission in the second year of the course.
Way forward
The need of the hour is a significantly closer partnership between industry and polytechnics. Skill-oriented education has very little value unless it dovetails with the needs of the industry. So to cater the needs of technical manpower in India, Polytechnics are going to play an important role in the near future. The students should look at these institutes after 10th class for better technical knowledge and can also opt for degree after doing the diploma to enhance their qualification and fulfilling their dreams.
(The author is Principal Government Polytechnic College, Udhampur.)
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