BENGALURU: Though the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has made it mandatory to introduce English as a subject in technical courses in the country, the Karnataka state Department of Technical Education has rejected a coaching proposal submitted by Cambridge University UK citing the reason: “English coaching is not useful for our students.”
Recently, representatives of Cambridge University, looking after operations in India, met the state minister of higher education GT Devegowda and submitted their proposal to conduct English coaching classes for students. As mentioned in the proposal, it is a course to improve the communication skills of students to help them get employment after the course ends.
GT Devegowda, impressed with the proposal, forwarded it to the Department of Technical Education for further action. The department then constituted a committee and submitted a report saying that the course was not useful.Criticising the decision, placement officers of private engineering colleges said that the lack of communication skills was one of the main reasons that engineering graduates do not get jobs during campus placements. “As per my observation as a placement officer, 80% get rejected due to the lack of communication skills,” said a placement officer of a private engineering college.
“Our students are losing confidence due to their lack of communication skills. English plays a major role while getting a job anywhere,” said another placement officer.The proposal submitted by Cambridge University recommended conducting A2 to B1 level (of the 11 levels of English language learning) for engineering, diploma and MBA students.