Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

‘Slowdown is the time to acquire more skills’

VIJAYAWADA: The slowdown in campus placements and job opportunities has its impact on students of regular degree courses studying in government and private aided colleges, as they are now thinking twice to join additional courses for acquiring job-ready skills.

This impact is also being felt on students of Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs) run by the government in nearly 10 locations in Krishna district, with its nodal centre located at SRR & CVR Government Degree College here. The coordinators of the JKC programmes now face questions from students whether the additional skills they acquire will be of any use in this time of economic slowdown and lack of job opportunities.

“Students have a genuine concern about placements. But they have to realise that they should still acquire more skills and be ready for future opportunities,” says V. Yesupadam, chief coordinator of the JKC at SRR & CVR College. He points out that in a crisis situation, students should devote more time to acquire additional industry-relevant skills and there is no short cut to this important aspect as far as careers are concerned.

Mr. Yesupadam says that a sensitisation programme will be launched soon all over the district to make students of regular degree courses realise the importance of acquiring communication and soft skills. The JKCs are being presently run in government colleges in Vijayawada, Movva, Avanigadda, Tiruvuru and Kaikaluru. Besides these, the JKCs are in place in some of the private aided colleges such as ANR Degree College at Gudivada, VKR Degree College at Buddhavaram, Hindu College, Noble College and AJ Kalasala, all at Machilipatnam.

Students coming from rural areas and facing the disadvantage of not having English medium education are expected to derive immense benefits out of JKCs, where students are taught basic English speaking skills with the help of books and specially designed audio-visual methods. The spirit of the programme is to help students understand and practise English in the context of international communication. Also, soft and analytical skills and basic computer understanding will be imparted to the enrolled students.

JKCs impart two-month courses, for which a student will have to pay Rs. 750 for registration. This includes tutorials, books and CDs, which will be given to them during the course of the programme. At the SRR & CVR College, the JKC is going to start its next batch from July 21 and students from other colleges are also eligible to join.

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