Competence and competitiveness

The years of schooling, beginning nowadays at the tender age of three, ending at the level of graduation, followed by years to obtain post-graduate as well as doctoral degrees awarded by the nation’s 973 Universities and nearly 45,000 colleges, are expected to create competence in diverse callings, mainly to be able to earn a livelihood. Given the rapidly rising number of outputs from the country’s educational institutions, including those offering professional courses not getting employment, one is prompted to ponder seriously on the resources, time and effort spent in the matter of building competent workforce and raise the question: To what avail? Further, the proportion of the mass of students who enter the portals of schools at primary, secondary and higher secondary levels not making it to the colleges and even polytechnics makes the answer to the question raised above mind-boggling, to put it mildly. This proportion is presently in the radar of the Government which has launched the National Mission of skilling the human resources, an initiative taken not a day too late, and must be welcomed by all.

The graduates, armed with degrees in a multitude of subjects, including those scoring marks earning them distinction, identified as merited students, have the limited option of making a beeline to the coaching centres which charge a bomb for transforming the competent graduates to be competitive in order to get into the elite class wage-earners in Government (IAS), Industry (CEO) and own enterprises (Start-Up).

The West that had been dubbing India as a country of snake-charmers and Indians at large as a mass of people with cult-culture, performing miracles and magic suddenly woke up in the last decade of 20th century to find the nation’s youth mastering computer software to the point of earning the global rating of world leaders in the calling. In addition, India’s advances in rocketry and space exploration has further cemented the country’s image as highly competitive. Pharmaceutical industry too has earned the distinction for the country as a leading producer of drugs, particularly life-saving vaccines.

A reference to the narrative in the epic Mahabharatha in which the Pandava warrior Arjuna as a competent archer outclassed his equal Ekalavya by virtue of reaching higher levels of competence prompts one to remark that competence and competitiveness are different kettles of fish. Lastly, all concerned with the economic health of the nation are obliged to take note of a just published report that India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in a global index that measures competitiveness.