Following is the article that was published.The complete article can be found on the first page of Wednesday's (29/8/07) edition of the City express(Bangalore edition).
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Doing their bit
Wednesday August 29 2007 12:36 IST
Jaunet Gurudas
At a time when the IT industry is crying hoarse about the lack of an employable workforce and the State has taken a ‘hands off’ stand stating a faculty crunch, a group of young software engineers are trying to do their bit to polish the technical and soft skills of students.
Jaunet Gurudas
At a time when the IT industry is crying hoarse about the lack of an employable workforce and the State has taken a ‘hands off’ stand stating a faculty crunch, a group of young software engineers are trying to do their bit to polish the technical and soft skills of students.
Arun Kumar, Deepak Dhananjaya, Samarth Prakash and Shiva Krishnan, are four techies who graduated from RNS Institute of Technology in 2005 and formed Adhyapana in the same year, with the aim of helping students in rural engineering colleges.
Says Shiva Krishnan, a team member, “We saw that students had difficulties securing a job since those with technical skills lacked communication skills or vice versa. Since, all four of us had a common trait which was a passion to teach, we decided to bridge the gap by designing a short term placement training programme.”
The programme comprises of technical and non-technical sessions. The technical part of the course includes C, C++, data structures and microprocessors, and focuses not on teaching but helping students apply what they already know.
The Non technical sessions focus on resume writing, improving aptitude, polishing communication skills and preparing students to face group discussions and interviews.
Adhyapana conducted their first course at S J C Institute of Technology, Chikkaballapur, in September 2005 for mechanical and civil engineers.
“The feedback which we received after the first course reassured the faith with which all four of us started. Though it was a pilot project, our course had helped students in gaining confidence and realising their goal of getting placed,” Shiva recalls.
Now, they conduct programmes in two more colleges: Alpha College of Engineering, Doddagubbi and A P S Polytechnic, Somanahalli.
Another commendable effort of Adhyapana is that the team uses the fees collected through their programmes to provide scholarships to students.“Initially, we were conducting the programme for free. But, people started telling us that we should charge a nominal amount. Therefore, Deepak, a team member came up with the idea of using the fees to fund students,” Shiva says.
The team now funds the education of two rural school students and has contributed to the first year fees of four engineering students from APS Polytechnic.
About extending the reach of their programme, Shiva says that though they would love to, managing time between their jobs is a huge effort and they have restricted the programmes to weekends.
However, the team adds that talks are in progress with four more colleges.
