Poor education biggest deterrent to IT industry in state: Experts

By Kuleen Kapoor

Ahmedabad, Jan. 19: The biggest deterrent to development of the Information Technology (IT) industry in the state is the lack of quality education that IT professionals require to compete at the national and international level.

Most IT recruiters complain that the quality of education imparted at the college level is generally restricted only to theoretical know-how. This kind of education overlooks the practical application of the acquired knowledge rendering these "educated IT professionals" futile to them.

"Computer literacy in Gujarat is below average due to sub-standard quality of teaching," said Sandeep Gupta of Institute of Advance Computing and Management, New Delhi.

Director of E Comm Opportunities, a Gujarat-based IT firm, Ruzan Khambatta commented, "Freshers who come out of many BCA and MCA institutes in the state need to be trained from the scratch as most of them have worked on low-level projects in their college." She further added that it was not the fault of students but the institute itself. "Even L.D. College of Engineering does not have a Research and Development (R&D) department," she said.

This claim was confirmed by the lecturer and placement officer of the IT department in L.D. College of engineering, Nehal Shah. She said, "We don’t have an R&D department, but it is the government responsibility to provide it." Even though, she asserted that nearly 70 per cent of students were placed.

Again, Nirma Institute of Technology boasts of "100 per cent" placement of IT students. Pragnesh Joshi of IT department at the institute said, "We have 30 research projects going on at the moment." Although no batch has yet passed out from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of IT and Communication (DAIITC), they have an R&D department where research on robotics is carried on.

B.H. Jajoo, professor at IIM-A, believes that except for a few institutes like Nirma and DAIITC, most lack permanent and trained faculty. He said, "Professors are not paid enough. Second, most are hired on part-time basis and so are unable to dedicate quality time to students."

IT awareness is not just needed among students but also general populace for the IT revolution to take place in the state. Jignesh Mehta of Dhwani Computer Media, a computer hardware distributor, said, "Many come and ask me what a printer cartridge is! This needs to change."