The state of higher education in India.

So this story starts from the time when I “yet again” had failed to clear any of the entrance examinations. Examinations that could guarantee a better higher education in India. A friend of mine knew that I had given another attempt at the examinations and he asked me about what college am I going to choose. I told him that I had a very bad score in the exams and I don’t think I will be able to pursue engineering. He told me that some regional colleges accept lower scores, If I want I can try them.

By this time one good thing was that I was very clear that what I really wanted. I wanted to be a computer professional, I wanted to learn more about them as in the past 1 year of my fake preparation for entrance examinations my interest in computers had grown as I was spending most of my time on the computer instead of with the books. So with this desire I was even ready to do a basic computer course, I decided that I will study on my own and learn more about computers. I will work and study through correspondence.

But I had also told my family that there is a possibility of going into an engineering college if I apply to regional colleges. So my family thought that it will be always better if I get a degree from a regular college than going for a job and non-regular degree.

Ok So I do as was suggested by my friend and pressed upon by my family, I applied to those colleges and yes I got an acceptance from one of the colleges. My another friend lets call him H, he was also in the same situation and on my advice he had also applied and he also got acceptance in the same college.

The day of enrolment

I reached the college which was in a very remote location in a village. I looked at the college it had two buildings with two stories each, this seemed to be very small for a college. I was desperate to get admitted in some college so I thought maybe I am looking from a distance that is why they are looking small(too silly a story to believe I know 🙂 ) and went ahead, mind you, this was the first ever time I was visiting an engineering college, I had no idea how they should look and what sort of facilities a college should have. Being an engineer was in fashion those days, people were of view that if you become an engineer your life is set and you will be paid handsomely and will have all the things that you need in your life.  So yes that was something that I had heard too.

They took information from me and even took all of my school certificates that too in original. This was a mistake from my side and worse I didn’t even ask them for something in writing that they have my certificates. You please never do that. Never give your certificates like this to anyone. Later I will tell you why.

After the formalities were done and I had paid the first year fee. A lady(later on I got to know she was one of the teachers) came to me for taking me on a round of the campus, as if there was a campus! It was just small building with a few halls and rooms which they wanted us to believe is an Engineering college, I had created a very fancy image in my head about colleges and this was nothing like that, in a matter of minutes I was regretting taking an admission here. But I was feeling very helpless but yes I wanted to be an engineer!

The college days

1st day at college, they had organized an event for starting of the first session of the college(Oh, yes this was a new college and I was in its first batch). I saw other students there as well, which made it comforting that me and my friend H were not the only ones there(and possibly duped).

1st year

We didn’t had any idea what we were doing in the college. Me and and my friends didn’t go to college for half of the time and the time we went there we didn’t know why we have come there. I had also got to know that all of the students were like me, they didn’t do well in school and the entrance examinations to get into a decent college, so as engineering was fad, they came to whoever was offering them an engineering degree.

Astonishing Note(atleast it was for me): almost 30% of the CSE and IT students didn’t know “how to turn on a computer”!. Now I am not making this up, this actually happened, a teacher asked this exact question to all CSE and IT students and then classes were organized in which they were told that how to turn it on,  what are the parts of a computer, what is an OS etc.

There wasn’t even a single teacher(yes I can’t call them professor) who had a post graduate degree. Almost all of them were fresh graduates out of similar engineering colleges(which don’t have any kind of future). As I wasn’t very regular at college, during this time, so I didn’t even pay heed to if the quality was good or not. I was having fun and enjoying my days with friends.

By the end of the 1st year(two semesters) I had already failed in 7 subjects out of 12. 🙁

2nd year

I decided that I will change things I will work hard, I had long hairs which I cut short in a hope that it will improve my image in front of the teachers. I started attending college regularly, I became serious about studying and studies.

But now the lack of experienced teachers was really hurting, there was no teacher to guide me. All the lectures were monotonous, outright boring and the teachers were reading straight out from the book(even junior school teachers were better than them).

There were hardly any students that were good, which had that interest in the subjects we are studying. By this time I had got to know of various people and their reasons for being here :

1. My dad wanted me to be an engineer so I am here( he had just somehow managed to pass his school exams)
2. You get good dowry if you are an engineer.
3. I was doing diploma in xyz, I heard that I can also become an engineer, so I am here.
4. This will guarantee us a stable and smooth career.
5. We had studied science in our school and we had no idea what else to do.

Ok so this made things even worse. But somehow now I was very determined to do good and do it for myself and my pride, my passion.

3rd year

2 years had passed, more things I experienced:

1. The gap provided between two semesters which is usually meant for getting an internship, all the students go the private coaching institutes learn some programming language and show a certificate in the college, we also did the same.
2. Not only the teachers were pathetic, they also didn’t know what they were doing there. They had the following roles:
   1. Take care of any event that takes place in the college and act as coordinators. Specially at the time of admissions.
   2. Hand out notes to students, which were simply photocopied from other colleges so that we can write at-least something in the semester exams.
   3. Give the internal marks, which was solely based on how well a student behaved with them, not how good a student was.
3. There were no practicals, as was the case with assignments, you simply had to copy them and write it down and show it to the teachers to just get it verified and checked(signatured with red ink)
4. Even if they would have wanted to have practicals but the labs didn’t have the required equipment. I wonder how such colleges got approval in the first place.

This year I was more serious, I had already cleared 5 out of the 7 exams I had failed in last year. My interest in programming had also grown seriously, I was reading good books( yes those big fat ones). After 3rd year as well you have a gap for interships, for which the students again went to institutes to get their certificate, but this time I studied on my own, in 45 days that I had I completed the book “Java: The complete reference”. This made me good with programming in Java and was able to make swing based desktop applications. I built two three applications taking help from the Internet. I printed out a certificate on my own to show it in college, and the teachers didn’t even bother to verify if that was a authentic or not. Had made a small application which I had shown as my minor project.

4th year

Till this time I was pretty convinced that the college is not going to take us anywhere. Whatever that needs to be done had to be done on our own. I told H as well that we have already in the final year and in the next one year I don’t think anything is going to change. We have to think as if the college has ended and we have to find something to do(read job) that will justify doing such a degree. Now even though H was my good friend he also wasn’t sure about for what was he doing this course for, he was doing it just for the sake of it. He didn’t do anything apart from giving me ears.

I created profiles on all the job sites and even applied to a few of them(although I didn’t get any response). I started improving my newly acquired Java skills. Then there was this guy from our batch who proposed that we should ask the college authorities to allow us to have a technical fest. We wanted to have a Quiz in that fest, for which I developed a quiz application(although the design and approach were pathetic) but it was a good program, worked well. This gave me some recognition as well as some confidence. I didn’t want to stay in the college even for one more day, I wanted to learn and implement. The college tried to bring in some companies for placing the students, I had already made up my mind that I will beg those companies to take me in and take me away from college from the day of interview. I will present the entire story some day later, but yes I got placed a very small company(but something was much better that nothing). I completed my graduation and it was very good to have a job even before graduating out of college.

So this was me, what were other people doing:

1. Hardly 5-6 got any placements out of the total strength of 80-85 students in CSE and IT (and I am sure in ECE and ME it was worse)
2. Around 70% of the students didn’t clear their graduation in the stipulated 4 years some took 5 some 6, some are still trying(I guess) and some have already given up.
3. Most of them(even the ones who topped) are carrying out jobs which they could have got after coming out of school.
4. All the students who are at good positions and doing good jobs have mostly done that on their own, the college or the education given to them there didn’t help them.
5. There others as well, who dared to go for higher studies(as for some being in a school, college gives them the freedom of doing what they want, enjoy their lives).
6. Some are still caught up in the loop of preparing again and again for government services.

The Take

If you have gone through the post(which is very long sorry), you might have got an idea of how is life in such a college. This was not just me I had heard the same from others as well who were in other similar colleges. I would never want you to fall into #2 to #6 as mentioned above. So I think even if you have scored low in the examinations, don’t be too desperate for just a degree, it will never be the end of the world if you don’t do it  or maybe do it after preparing more for another year(but make sure your prepare sincerely)

I have compiled the learnings from this journey in another follow up post, which I will add shortly.
I hope that you enjoy while you are learning and can do something which makes you happy or maybe even add more happiness to this world.