Challenges in being an IITian
A person invests as much as two precious years of life stressfully studying to clear the JEE exam, which is the so called toughest challenge at 10+2 level, with a view to enter prestigious IITs. IITs are known to have an excellent academic framework and enduring relations with foreign universities.
The past performance of IIT graduates in India and abroad have been overwhelming and it casts a spell on the native countrymen and the rest of the world.
Still the real facts lie buried deep inside and need to be revealed.
The reputation of the IIT tag is quite obvious. But the tag comes with a weight and superfluous expectations from the society. Parents and families have great hope from their ward in IIT. This leads to accumulation of intense pressure. IITians are sought to be the smartest of the lot in India and probably, yes they are! However smartness does not always translate to success and that too in a short period of time. Success is an outcome of so many other factors in addition to smartness. We as students cannot fathom those facts.
The study material for various engineering disciplines especially in UG courses are outdated and seem to be biased to chisel only a professional engineer with a very less knowledge of the practical world.
Students have no idea about how things work in the industry. As a result students do not get a wide exposure outside their books and just remain stuck in a vicious circle of assignments and exams. At last, the graduates are pilfered by companies of other countries and we are left dependent on the mercy of other countries for technical advancements.
Improper counseling about career in our country is another big issue. Students have no idea about what is important and what is not. Every amount of advice they seek for, adds to their confusion. This also reflects in the experience of students at IITs. In order to take a lead from others, students indulge in a race for visible goals like CGPA and certificates.
The CGPA pressure is so high that students are not able to explore their interest and do something that satisfies their intellect. This leads to a mad race for CGPA which adds a lot of pressure on students. Some perform well but a lot fail or get demotivated and lose faith in them. Their contribution gets restricted to themselves which obstructs their personality growth. Students at IIT become circumspect about their departmental ranks, CGPAs, internships, jobs etc. to such an extent that they stop enjoying their life. Creativity goes down and we see a procession of similar engineers that get churned out of this machine called IIT. Whence can we find our ‘Einsteins’ and ‘Edisons’ from such a system?
Despite of the surplus funds that s get, they do not match rankings of universities like Oxford and Harvard. Also it is not the case that s have considerable contribution in research works for our country. Lack of research grants, research laboratories in the college are a big factor in stunting the growth of students. Professors struggle to get their research work published. This translates into demotivating classes. And somewhere down the line, students and more or less our country suffers it, leaving all of us in plight.
In conclusion, it might be said that the kind of disparity which exists at IITs is huge. We have on one side excellent performers in their fields and we have some others who are still grappling and trying to find their interests. The former go out with glory, hog the media and the world sees a happy –go picture, while the latter have a very different story to tell, leaving a question mark on the IITs and the education system of the country as a whole.