Shiksha Opinion: Is engineering still the 1st preference among students?

Is engineering still the 1st preference among students?

Most of the Asian countries, particularly India, have this obsession with studying science in +2. And taking this baton (read that as obsession) further, children have no choice and as a common trend girls end up pursuing MBBS whereas BE/BTech degree is taken up by  boys, primarily because these courses are considered to be a safe choice.

And this is not a trend that has picked up just now. Even when I hear elders in my family talk they end up hinting at the pedestal, an engineering degree was placed at in their time. So much so, that if aspirants couldn’t get admission into an engineering college they would pursue nothing less than a BSc course, but dare they think about studying commerce or arts, which was only for the weaker students. In a time and age with several arts and commerce students getting placed much better than their science counterparts, why does this typical mind-set still prevail?

I do not know whether engineering is the first preference of students but I definitely know that it is a popular choice. And supporting my statement is statistics which reveal that close to 1.5 million students sat for engineering entrance exams in 2013 out of which an impressive 1.4 million students sat for JEE to fill a meager 9885 seats.

So, I tried speaking to some students pursuing their BTech to find out why they preferred pursuing science and ultimately engineering.

Students from science streams, especially boys, prefer taking up engineering rather than medicine because it seems to be the lesser of the two evils (LOL!). Primarily, because if you compare the two, engineering has more seats and job opportunities as compared to MBBS along with the known fact that an MBBS degree takes much longer to complete.  

Apart from some students claiming they had a passion for engineering, I ended up getting random answers which ranged from “I wasn’t clear about what to do, everybody was giving engineering entrance so I also gave” to “my parents wanted me to pursue engineering”. This brought to light that most students would not have preferred getting into engineering provided they did not come across any of the societal/peer pressure.

So, let us understand and evaluate the mind-set of Indian parents who live in myths of their own.

Myth vs Reality

I strongly agree that parents want nothing but the best for their child but they need to understand that forcing their child to tread paths they want may just leave him all the more depressed. For them, I would like to list out some pointers of my own.

Myth: A child needs to be an engineer or doctor to scale heights in his/her professional life. Other degree courses have no value.

Reality: These days majority of the people (like our cricket idol Sachin Tendulkar) who made it big in life do not possess an engineering or medicine degree. So yes, other professions also give you the opportunity to make your presence felt. Thus, students should pursue professions for which they have an immense liking and aptitude.

Myth: Marks/grade scored by an individual in their 10+2 reflects their true intelligence.

Reality: I have known people who scored around 65% in their boards but later went on to get placed at reputable organizations primarily because of their skills and adaptive personality.

Myth: Engineering students get the perfect jobs through campus placement.

Reality: In today’s day and age it is important to have a thorough understanding of various functions (to perform at work) along with being open to multi-tasking. While it is good to graduate from a reputable institution, companies will not hire you just on the basis of the brand you are associated with, you will have to possess and showcase the necessary skill-set which they are looking for.

So, I feel that students should not bow down to pressure and keep an open mind while deciding which stream they want to make a career in. After all, they might feel this pressure for just a month or two but getting into some job you hate is not how you should live your life.

On the other hand students should choose their stream on the basis of:

• What interests them; if engineering is their preference then they should also be able to shortlist which branch they would consider for admission. Students should choose this branch depending on their preference and not on the basis of its popularity or simply because the job opportunities are high.
• The aptitude which they possess and here a small plea to parents, please give your children the freedom to decide what they want to do based on their natural flair as against following the societal stereotypes.

The mind-set of Indians needs to change because we should pursue a profession to explore our personality and achieve new heights of success in our work and we definitely do not want to be at a place, doing what someone else thought we might be good at.

Engineering is still a popular career choice but is it primarily because students want to make that choice or is the society deciding for them. Well, that is a discussion which can definitely not have a conclusion in our country, for now at least.