More adept at using their smartphones than textbooks, the one announcement in the Budget that struck a chord with this group of students at MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai was 'SWAYAM'. It's a free online learning portal that promises the students learn from virtual presentations by professors of premier institutes like IITs and IIMs.
"The visuals actually help learn better than written text. They aid in understanding the concepts better," says K V Sanjana, a second year BCom (Hons) student. The online portal has promised 300 courses for the students. Almost all students wanted the government to focus on moving away from 'bookish' education towards practical-based teaching to make the students really intelligent. “Fifty per cent of marks should be for written exams. The remaining 50 per cent should be based on practical exams,” says Ritka Makesh, a second year BCom (CS) student.
Most of them are happy that the Budget has, unlike previous ones, discussed about educational institutions beyond elites like IITs and IIMs and focused on 3,479 educationally-backward blocks across the country.
“Also, allotting around `2,400 crore for vocational education is a major step and will energise the youth,” says B Subiksha, a second year BCom (Hons) student.
"More autonomy is the need of the hour for colleges,” says Ritka. Echoing her statement, her collegemates say more autonomy for colleges would allow them to alter the syllabus, reduce importance given to theoretical part and focus more on skills that will fetch them a job.
But not just stopping at improving education, the students say the government must focus better on creating new jobs for the large number of students who would be passing out of the colleges in the coming years.