Flawed IT Teaching

Sugam Gautam

One of the professors, whose class I attend regularly, often points out students from an IT background to ask questions related to technology. His assumption is that IT students are shrewd with technology and that they know how to integrate technology into business. The assumption is obvious. Having completed IT at the bachelor's level, the students are supposed to have a sound knowledge of information technology. But the IT students are always confused, and, in a way, even students from non-IT backgrounds match their skills. Who should be blamed for this?

One can argue it’s the carelessness of students that has pushed them into a state of ignorance. There’s no doubt that knowledge and skills are personalised, and in this digital world, one can hone their skills by relying on the internet. But the question is whether the colleges in Nepal have been successful in evoking interest in students. Many universities in Nepal have been running IT programmes for a long time, but the resources produced are incapable of serving the job market. In the last five to eight years, IT colleges have seen a surge in the number of students, and the number will keep growing given the glorification of IT-related jobs in the international market. 

Universities and colleges are free to introduce IT courses and earn money, but they should be equally responsible for shaping the digital future by producing competent resources. The irony is that institutions teaching IT are bent on disseminating theoretical information instead of making students learn through practicals and workshops. They should devise a plan to change their methods of teaching.

All the universities that run IT courses should exclude internships from the course itself. In the later years, just before the completion of the degree, students are asked to do an internship in a certain organisation for a short period of time. The main purpose of the internship is to bring the theoretical knowledge gained throughout the years into practice. How much can a student do in the period of a few weeks? Rather than practicing this traditional approach, the universities must find a way to introduce students to the market. 

The university must make a provision for connecting them to the industry where they can learn and work on a regular basis. The practice of teaching students in the classroom without familiarising them with the industry has to end. IT should be taught in such a way that students get to know about the current trends in IT, the market, its demands, and challenges. The entire model of running IT courses looks flawed. Almost all the universities in Nepal ask the students to give written exams, sidelining the importance of work skills, task evaluation, and such. 

If the universities don’t fix this lackluster approach, they will continue to produce mediocre manpower, resulting in a scarcity of capable IT resources.  It’s high time that the universities cast a glance at the way IT courses are being run. Before it’s too late, the institutions must revise their modus operandi and make IT courses more task-based and practical. Well, the gist is: you can’t claim yourself an IT resource by simply passing a written exam. The digital devices and the market must come into play.