It is a fact that of the millions of people living and learning in India, most cannot be hired by major tech companies. Seems unlikely, no? Throughout the whole country many should at least be able to work at these modern companies and earn decent wages. Most people, however, do not fit the requirements set by new age businesses because they lack the skills. And this deficiency can be traced back all the way to grade school. The knowledge that students gain through the Indian school systems is too bookish. It’s too outdated. There is no use for the information that they obtain because not many jobs employ that information on a day-to-day basis. Important skills like coding or how to use advanced, professional design software are not taught in school and therefore the current work force lacks the ability to comply to many company requirements. Teaching in India still hasn’t reached the technological phase and the answer to that is specific technology training.
Many people today do not enter their jobs knowing exactly what it requires and or the knowledge or expertise to do it well. This lack of information is what prevents employees from being promoted, from making more money or from just doing their jobs correctly. According to James Bessen, an economist at the Boston University School of Law, 32.8% of the people that agreed that they lacked the necessary skills to do their job (a poll of 1,000 people) did not have the technical skills to do their job well (Bessen). And that is on a global basis. If India’s work force was specifcally observed, only about five lakh of the thirty lakh job candidates are considered “employable” (Jha). Around the year 2025, India will contribute to nearly 25% of the global workforce, but after examining the low feasibility of employment caused by the lack of updated education, such an achievement is incredibly difficult (Jha). The only remedy to India’s ailing job market is the right dosage of technology training to keep employees updated, skilled and ready to work.
Its understandable why outside knowledge may be needed in order to fulfill the requirements of a job. Information is compiled everyday and new skills needed to for a job well done become abundant. In order to keep up with this growing mound of information, new sources of knowledge are necessary. This is to avoid relying on employers to teach skills that should already have been acquired, putting an unnecessary burden on the company and wasting precious time. Being trained by the employer itself makes employees seem unprepared for the task at hand. Besides, learning more allows people to apply for better jobs, pursue better positions in various companies and ultimately make more money.
More generally, according to Line Shape Space’s Brian Benton, untrained workers end up costing businesses because they work inefficiently enough to result in a loss of both time and money (Benton). In this case, both the business and the employees look bad. Investing in skills in order to decrease the number of mistakes is much better than leaving employees without the skills needed to succeed. The sectors facing the brunt of this “acute manpower shortage” are IT companies, pharmaceutical agencies, healthcare, infrastructure, retail management, automotive handling and others (Jha). Companies looking for skills are not finding it in the average Indian indivudual but in the individuals ready to take an extra step in their education to carry specialized knowledge.
One of the greatest reasons specialized technology training is useful is that many computer programs and coding languages that are usually not taught in traditional Indian schools become accessible. Software like Matlab®, Scilab and Python, which are incredibly important to science, medical, and engineering fields, are required for many jobs, but expertise in that specific software requires knowledge previously unavailable in normal schools. Some jobs require knowledge of Javascript, Python, and Arduino and the ability to apply these languages effectively to create things. OpenCV and the ability to use Python to process images or writing code in order to create Android apps or to control Arduino through microcontrollers are all possible applications of technology training. It is almost assured that these skills will not be available in general schools, where the main focus is to teach basic skills like math and chemistry. The classes are worth their cost in the amount of knowledge gained from them that otherwise would have never been obtained and used to yield greater accomplishments in the future.
Many businesses, especially Indian ones, employ underprepared employees either believing that extra, job-specific knowledge is not needed or not knowing whether their employees have the necessary skills to do their jobs well. This destroys companies from within. Workers lose confidence in themselves and in the business and the business does not function as smoothly as it should. In order to avoid such a predicament and promote a healthy future, both for the business, the employee and India’s steadily growing job market, it is important to invest in technology training.
Works Cited
Bessen, J. (2014, September 17). Workers Don’t Have the Skills They Need – and They Know It. Retrieved July 25, 2016, from https://hbr.org/2014/09/workers-dont-have-the-skills-they-need-and-they-know-it
Benton, B. (2014, September 03). Importance of Employee Training: 6 Reasons Why. Retrieved July 25, 2016, from https://lineshapespace.com/importance-of-employee-training/
Jha, P. (2015, September 21). The skills gap and what it means for your business – The Financial Express. Retrieved August 02, 2016, from http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/jobs/the-skills-gap-and-what-it-means-for-your-business/138700/
– Karthik Puravant (intern with itie Knowledge Solutions, Bangalore. Currently studying is US)
