Admission to most private arts and science colleges is restricted to commerce, management, information technology, bio sciences or language/literature courses. There are very few colleges that offer undergraduate or post-graduate courses in philosophy, history, psychology or sociology.
‘There are no takers, that’s why,’ is the common refrain from colleges. Human resource managers looking for prospective employees do not want graduates from those disciplines, they say.
But those who have taught history, sociology and other humanities courses, beg to differ. The colleges offer only market-driven courses and are not concerned about higher education, says N. Thirugnanasambandam, a retired professor of Sociology. With the increase in private colleges, history, sociology or psychology courses are offered only in government or government-aided colleges, he adds.
That is the reason the Association of University Teachers has been fighting for a law that mandates private colleges to offer such courses, says C. Pichaandy, a former general secretary of the teachers’ union. If the private colleges offered these courses, the students would take them. While they may not find placement in companies that come for campus interviews, they can certainly appear for competitive examinations or pursue higher studies, he says.
Private colleges will only offer courses that are in demand, says a representative of a private college. The colleges offer those courses that the industry demands to help students get jobs. Parents look for such factors at the time of admission, he reasons.
If the government reserves jobs for graduates from these disciplines, more students will opt for such courses and private colleges will offer them subjects such as history, psychology or sociology, says Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan of AJK College of Arts and Science. He gives the example of how the Indian Army and the Railways reserves for diploma and degree holders from the catering department, and that is one of the triggers for the demand for admission going up in that discipline, he adds.
(Reporting by
Karthik Madhavan)
