Have you ever given a deep thought about the new IT training institute recently sprung up at the corner of your street? With tags of “100% job guarantee”, they seem to be attractive propositions for an aspiring IT professional. With the IT boom, the trend of so-called training institutes gained momentum. The situation today is such that there are an umpteen number of such learning institutes who make a quick buck out of our pockets.
I would cite my own case-study to bring forth the actual functioning of such institutes. During my final year in college, I myself was a part of one such IT learning center. I wanted to make a career in IT and I was told that these institutes can serve as a springboard for venturing into the software industry. Good thing for me was that it was affiliated to my Engineering college. So, I could attend the program at my own sweet time, either mornings or evenings, whichever was convenient for me!
It was supposedly a year and a half course that promised to prepare me for the rigors of the industry and nurture me into a software professional. The course content too, looked very impressive on paper (Most of my seniors who were already in IT, believed the same). The staff primarily consisted of 2 lecturers from the Computer Science dept of our college and another 3-4 hired from outside. The staff seemed to be adequate for the course content.
The first few lectures took off very well and as planned. Though not awe-inspiring, they were not bad either. Things were looking positive for the first couple of months. It was mostly the theoretical sessions till then. But they were found wanting when the practical sessions started. Most of the times, we had to put in our own efforts in tackling issues related to the course material, technical issues with the computers etc. The students had put in a decent amount of money for the course and were expecting better than this. Slowly but surely, we could sense a lack of interest from the teaching staff. They were irregular in taking lectures and at times would skip important topics at the pretext that those topics were insignificant. More often than not, we were not adhering to the course content and the sessions would digress from the normal course.
The practical sessions were getting haywire with no one around to monitor them. The students felt thoroughly cheated for all the money they had paid, including me. Luckily for me, I was not paying a big amount, as I was part of the same college where these sessions were held (being students of the college, we were getting discounted rates for the program). But for some unfortunate outsiders, this was turning out to be quite a nightmare (They were shelling close to 50k for this program).
All our complaints to the management about the irregularities fell to deaf ears! After about 6 months of indifference by the management and the staff towards this program, I gave it a miss. Fortunately for me, I had not paid the full amount at the start of the program, as I had the flexibility of a part-payment. Still I ended up losing about 15k. I say “losing” because I literally gained nothing out of this program. But I pity the ones who had paid the full amount at the start of the program. They had no choice but to continue with the program and they sure went through hell during that period.
It was my good fortune to find an able mentor in my cousin, who trained me and prepared me for the IT industry. After seeking and finally finding a job in the IT industry, I try to figure out where exactly did the program I attended help me in my search for a job. I am sure; it did not find a place anywhere. It was all the able guidance of my cousin and my own hard work that helped me get my first job.
Even today, I see a lot of such institutes throng at every nook and corner of major IT hubs like Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Some institutes also guarantee a job in the IT industry, which I find thoroughly ridiculous. I have reasons to justify my claim.
Ø Such courses are more often than not, designed by people who have virtually little or no knowledge of the IT industry
Ø The infrastructure provided at such institutes is inadequate in most cases
Ø The staff is not equipped technically to teach the nuances of the IT industry or for that matter the course content as well
Ø The lectures are more of an eye-wash than a proper training session
Ø After completion of the courses, the so-called claims of employment are put to rest by the management. At most they can ask the candidate to join the same institute at a paltry salary
Ø Even though students score good marks at their examinations, they fare poorly when it comes to facing corporate interviews and written tests

The list is almost endless. First of all, one cannot really design an IT course in the true sense of the word. All one can do is design a course that comes close to what is called a “corporate training” and that too can be imparted to the students only by a person who belongs to the industry. Such courses are available with some leading institutes, but I myself haven’t had a chance to go through any. They maybe reliable, they may not be. But the fact of the matter is that most of the institutes are around to make a quick buck. They do not have any noble thought of imparting quality IT education to aspiring IT professionals.
The question is, can we stop the practices of such institutes who are actually cheating innocent individuals by imparting them sub-standard IT education in return for astronomical amount of money? The answer is a big YES. Organizations like NASSCOM can play a major role in this. They should rate these institutes and verify the authenticity of the claims they make. NASSCOM experts can do surprise checks on these learning centers. They will be in a position to understand how good or bad the institute is and can accordingly take action against the bad ones! A certificate can be issued by NASSCOM to the institute to this effect. The good institutes go on and the sub-standard ones should be told to either shut their shops or improve. Based on the ratings available, an aspiring student will have the power to choose his institute of interest. Some IT institutes like the one run by Symbiosis, IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) are doing a great job by providing quality education for students. Only problem is such genuine institutes are few in number. NASSCOM and the ministry IT should work in tandem to come up with more such institutes with a view to providing good IT education to students at relatively moderate costs. Not only will it improve the next generation of IT professionals, but also, put to rest the bogus institutes who intend to earn quick money out of students.
-Subhash Chandra Yadav

Subhash Chandra Yadav is a Sr. Engineer (Software) and is currently employed with Patni Computer systems. He can be reached at subh_yadav@rediffmail.com

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