Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

Train students to match IT needs: Karnik

BHOPAL: Kiran Karnik, President of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), said here on Thursday that instead of pulling out all the bright students, the information technology and IT-enabled sector should encourage the bright students to go in for research.

Mr. Karnik was addressing a seminar on “Destination Madhya Pradesh—Investment opportunities in IT/BPO” organised jointly by Government of Madhya Pradesh, NASSCOM and the Computer Society of India. “If we pull out all the bright graduates, who is going to do Masters and Ph.D. and who is going to teach?” he asked.

Mr. Karnik said the IT industry is not only the biggest exporter of trained manpower but also the biggest private sector employer in the country. He said there is a huge gap between demand and availability of suitable manpower in the IT sector. “The big problem is that instead of directly putting people on the job, companies are required to first train them,” he said, adding that it was a paradox that the industry has to train fresh recruits within a few months covering areas that are never taught over a 16-year period.

He said that there was need to open a dialogue to close this gap. If it is a technical job, most of those who apply are not up-to-date, he said, adding that the curriculum should be current and in tune with the industry’s need.

Setting the tone for deliberations, State Principal Secretary (Information Technology) Raghav Chandra said: “We would like to create opportunities and make Madhya Pradesh the centre for creative and innovative education that it could meet the demands of the Information Technology sector across the country.”

Rajiv Gandhi Technological University Vice-Chancellor P.B. Sharma said “this is an era of partnership and alliances. If the educational institutions and industry jointly coordinate efforts both were bound to perform at a higher level”.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Train students to match IT needs: Karnik

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu