Need engineers? Rope in students

Government plans to make engineering students slog it out in villages before they earn a degree

Need engineers? Rope in students

Government plans to make engineering students slog it out in villages before they earn a degree

Engineering students may soon have to compulsorily serve in rural areas to earn their degree.

Rural and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje told MiD DAY that talks were on with Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) to fill in the demand for engineers in rural areas.

"We are trying to work out a system where engineering students will be attached to Zilla Panchayats and will take up infrastructure projects including planning and supervision," she said.

The government and the university are yet to work out the details. "We may also ask students to take up the work as a project for the BE degree. They will have to work on the field and write their experiences. Marks will be awarded based on their contribution. We may at first stick to only civil engineering students. We have not come to any conclusion yet," she said.

This move will help the government meet the shortage of engineers in zilla panchayats. "We can utilise the expertise of the students and they also will get experience," she said.

Former VTU vice-chancellor Balaveer Reddy feels that since industries already take the services of students for projects, the government too should do it. "It's a good idea. Now, our final-year students stay in the campus and do some projects with the help of their professors. And our civil engineering students are in Bangalore getting hands-on training in private construction companies for eight weeks. If the government does the same thing, the government and the students will benefit. They can take up highway projects, irrigation projects or drinking water projects. Our students can do much better," he said.

Reddy says students will get acquainted with the work condition and become familiar with the officials. "But," he added, "It will be nice if the government pays for the transportation of students when they go on field work."

Students think it's a good idea

Surprisingly, students too welcome the idea.u00a0 "I think it is a good idea. Most villages in India are backward. I feel technology is to make life better. When we work on projects in villages, we will get an idea of how we can use technology to develop villages. It can even be in fields like dairy or farming," said Rakesh M R, student
of UVCE.

Shruti S Rao says, "In a way, I think it will make us more responsible and sensitive. Now, all engineers work only in cities and know only about urban life. But I don't know how practical this will be if it is enforced for all engineering branches. For instance, I am a computer science student and I don't know what project I can do in villages. If I am asked to do something relevant, I will surely take it up," she said.

Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar too welcomed the idea. "Students will get an experience of rural areas," he said.

Medical students too
Medical students went on a strike last year, opposing union health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss's proposal that medical students will have to serve in rural government hospitals for at least a year after their MBBS.
Last month, Ramadoss announced that the one-year service would come into effect from 2010.

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