Dr. Salikyu Sangtam
St. Joseph University
There is an enormous misconception with regard to why most students in Nagaland are unemployable. This is erroneously brought under the poorly defined slogan ‘unemployable youths,’ i.e. students in Nagaland are ‘unemployable’ because they lack appropriate ‘skills.’ All the blame is put on the students. This is why in almost any educational functions, the guests of honour—such as governor, bureaucrats, politicians, principals, owners of colleges, vice-chancellors—proclaim with utmost religious pomposity and certainty that the youths’ today are ‘unemployable.’ Here, there are things to be noted: first, the use of the word ‘unemployable’; and second, an ambiguously defined word ‘skills.’
With regard to the former, when the all-knowing speakers state with absolute certitude that ‘students are unemployable,’ they are indirectly implying that students solely are responsible for their un-employability, not the university and colleges. Certainly, it is one of the easiest excuses concocted by universities, colleges, teachers, parents, leaders, politicians, and society to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. After all, how can the voiceless students retort to such accusations? It is essential to recognize that when students enter universities and overrated colleges, they are inculcated into a system of education based on memorization, where lackadaisical teachers, habituated into the existing system, depend on giving notes and, in most cases, provide reductionist explanations of the concepts. This is not helped by the fact that the numerous private colleges affiliated with Nagaland University are established purely for monetary gains rather than imparting useful knowledge and skills to their students (Government colleges, on the other hand, seem to have become a proxy to secure backdoor government employment and relish the government-scale salary. They are a lost cause). Indeed, these colleges may assert vehemently that their colleges are dedicated to provide quality education and impart necessary skills. However, in many instances, these turn out to be only talks, only words. In reality, most of these colleges are there to skim off financial profits from the students as well as to skim off funds from various state and central schemes.
In addition, most of the teachers, both at the university and the colleges, particularly those seasoned in the Nagaland university system are lackadaisical and indolent. They are lethargic for one of two reasons or combination of both. One, teachers, especially at the university (and government colleges), have secured their jobs; hence they are happy to live off their inflated salaries without engaging in new research nor updating themselves to the advancements made in their field of study. This is why the Nagaland University’s syllabi have not changed to reflect the advancements made in various fields of study. This is substantiated by the fact that Nagaland University has still not revised its syllabi and credit system to the revised format of the University Grant Commission (UGC). As such, degrees received from Nagaland University and its overrated affiliated colleges are considered Sub-Standard. In other words, our students are charged exorbitant fees, by overvalued colleges, for sub-standard degrees. No wonder, students from Nagaland are highly disadvantaged when they go to mainland India seeking either jobs or admissions for higher studies. If the readers do not believe me, simply go and check the UGC website to ascertain if the Nagaland University’s syllabi reflect the updated version. Two, teachers, particularly seasoned teachers at the (private and government) colleges and university, have become accustomed to stagnant university syllabi. As such, they make notes, which they know they will never have to make any changes till the end of times, based on the university’s syllabi that do not change, and disseminate these to their students and compel them to memorize the notes (even though these notes are not only copy and pasted from Wikipedia, but they are also outdated and filled with sentence and grammatical errors). Here again, if the readers want to check the verity of my statement, go and ask any present college students’ notes and compare those notes the ones circulated by the teacher seven to ten years ago or simply check Wikipedia.
When the mentality of the teachers is such, what good can we expect from our students? (We ought to remember that students turn out to be like their teacher; hence, the state of our present society, which I need not dwell on such obvious facts) How can we expect our students to have ‘employable skills’? This condition is made worse when we take into consideration the role of numerous private colleges in our state, most of them, with very few exceptions, are money mongering. When centers for learning and education—be they private universities or colleges—become profit motivated, the result will be overinflated unemployable degree holders. When money becomes the centerpiece for any educational establishment, the quality of education is inevitably lowered and no appropriate skills for the future are provided to the students, since providing such skills and quality education cuts into the profits of the college owners and (collective) associations.
To further add to the woes of the students, the teachers’ salary in the private educational institutions is well below those in the government educational institutions. This is also an essential factor to keep in mind because, when there is such a salary gap between the private and government educational institutions, this invariably affects the quality of education being imparted to the students. This is also one of the reasons why teachers in private institutions are not motivated and also lack the financial resources to conduct researches and update themselves with the latest developments made in their field of study. Furthermore, because the salary is too less, teachers are unable to give their very best in terms of teaching and providing guidance to their students since they have other things in their mind to worry about—family, rent, oil, food, shelter, etc. In other words, teachers cannot teach with dignity; while, teachers in the government educational institutions are overpaid with nothing to show for in terms of knowledge contributed to their own respective fields of study.
Teachers, nevertheless, do not help their case by the fact that in Nagaland, most join the teaching profession either because they have no other options, i.e. this is their last option as they have exhausted all their chances to acquire government jobs, or because teaching becomes a source of part-time employment as they attempt to crack competitive exams or as they await for backdoor appointments. Indeed, the government can do something to help just as it is done in many other states throughout the country. In many states, there is a government-private partnership, where a certain percentage of teachers’ salary is paid by the state government. This way, teachers are duly compensated; thereby, reducing the immense discrepancies of salary. Indeed, if one looks at the statistics, private colleges do perform better than government colleges during state exams. Hence, there are legitimate reasons as to why teachers in the private sectors ought to be helped by the state government.
Even the society, including parents and guardians, is to be held responsible for the failures of our society to produce employable youths. Our society is such that we elevate and respect only one particular form of employment: Government Jobs. Because we deem government job as the only ‘Legitimate’ form of employment, we disregard and degrade all other forms of occupation as insignificant. If one is employed in any other occupation other than in government sector, then one has failed miserably in life and that is a cause for shame to your family, your village, your clan, etc. In such a society, students are encouraged to get a degree not to realize their inborn potential, but to appear competitive exams and secure government jobs. Hence, education in our society has become a means to an end, not an end in itself. We use education for the sole purpose of competitive exams or to secure backdoor appointments. In such conditions, we’ve, unintentionally, establish a societal environment that is highly unconducive to any other form of occupation. Thus, our society inhibits any forms of lucrative businesses or industries to take roots that will actually provide respectable and dignified employment to most of our youths, who actually are very talented and creative. And this brings me to the latter point, ‘skills.’ What does one mean by the word ‘skill’? Because this is a highly ambiguous word that is not appropriately defined, it is essential to specify what it means, especially when the guests of honour employ the word ‘skill.’ However, do they even know what they are asserting when they say ‘skill’?
Now, ‘skill’ may mean any number of things: skill in technology, journalism, sports, painting, carpentry, masonry, landscaping, designing, machinery, cooking, etc. Which is it, that’s the question? To blindly assert, ‘unemployable youths with no proper skills,’ is to avoid taking the responsibility for the annihilation of students’ lives and their future. This is a very unctuous way to place blame on the victim. Define what ‘skills’ are first because without that it seems rather imprudent to speak about furnishing youths with employable ‘skills.’ Moreover, going back to what brought us here, because our society elevates and sees government jobs to be the only source of legitimate occupation, students are impelled to pursue government jobs, even when it is evidently clear that they are not interested in it. This, implicitly, destroys not only the life of a society but also the lives of students and their families. It destroys the lives of families because they are saddened when their child has failed to secure government job; the child, in turn, feels depressed that he/she has failed to pass competitive exams and feel more dejected in knowing that his/her family is disappointed in him/her. On the other hand, it destroys the society’s life because it directs majority, if not all, of the students—who could have been a good journalist, sportsman, IT engineer, Biotechnologist, chef, designer, technician, mechanic, and could have used their talent to better the society—to pursue in an endeavor in which majority of them is bound to fail; thus leaving them Frustrated.
Hence, in light of all these factors, how can the students not be unemployable? How can such a system produce employable youths? How can a stunted university system with outdated syllabi produce employable youths? How can profit-motivated colleges produce employable youths? Who is there to care for the interests of our students when teachers are themselves apathetic to their needs? How can we expect youths to be resourceful when society rewards and elevates only government employment? In view of such a pitiful societal milieu, how can we solely put the blame on the shoulders of the students? Rather, such a system situated in such a society puts an end to potentials of many talented students. In fact, it creates more frustrated students and these are manifested in the numerous socially deviant behaviors we observe among the youths today.
Ultimately, we are all to be blamed. We must not be so shameless as to put all the blame on students. Yes, students also have to play their part. Nevertheless, as elders, we must first create a societal and educational environment enabling students to recognize their own unique talents. Educational institutions can produce employable youths only when they help students realize their innate potentials.
