Engineer – Doctor Career Theory of India
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India’s independence struggle started with the slogan of “Purn Swaraj” and “Swadesi Andolan”.
It broadly meant that Indians demanded total autonomy as a free nation using goods made by Indians in India.
By that time, history had taught that India would continue to be enslaved by colonial powers because India, as a nation, wasn’t self-reliant.
Over the years of British colonial rule, Indian industriousness and educational capabilities have systematically eroded.
It had to now depend on British colonial authorities to provide even necessities like food and clothes.
That strategic shortcoming laid the foundation of all the future policies that India would undertake as a free nation.
It was about achieving self-reliance and being independent in all respect.
To understand why India had an unofficial two-stream (engineer-doctor) career policy, we have to consider the situation at the time of independence.
Those were the times when India was socially and economically struggling, post-independence 1947.
There were few modern factories, the infrastructure was poor, and the nation was grappling with a high level of chronic poverty.
While farmers were the most downtrodden section of the society, weak and malnourished oxen ploughed their farms.
In the name of development, there was hardly any infrastructure. One of the causes of poverty, along with the colonial oppression, was also the high illiteracy rate.
It was also clearly understood that if India wanted to be truly independent, it had to be self-reliant and not let any shrewd traders like East India Company recolonise.
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... if India wanted to be truly independent, it had to be self-reliant ...
Hence came the objective of nation-building by socially uplifting the population of free India.
The objective for careers, saw its root in those times of nation rebuilding, striving to be self-reliant after two and half centuries of colonial oppression and plunder.
India took to the conscious path to self-reliance by laying the foundation for manufacturing indigenous products and technology.
The development policy was based on infrastructure reconstruction and enhancing production capabilities.
Therefore, these two-fold fundamental objectives were underlying the development policy.
The country needed to get more people in employment.
In a bold step toward industrialisation, it was necessary to upgrade the education system using science to support long term sustained development.
If the basis of national development policy was science and technology, education must naturally align with those needs.
In the first decade after independence, where would they come from, if millions of technical workforce were required?
In addition, healthcare staff was needed in millions to care for the poverty-stricken population in those million villages.
To overcome these shortages, the natural focus of the government was an education in engineering science and medical science.
What went wrong?
Since the focus of the country’s development was based on industrialisation, the scope of other careers was limited.
Somewhere, society started to connect careers in science with individuals’ capabilities, as those careers provided financial security.
This mistaken causality degenerated the societal psyche.
There is an oversupply of engineering and medical professionals in today’s situation, leading to unemployment.
According to the 2021 survey, ten lakh (one million) engineers graduate and about 50,000 MBBS graduates each year.
However, mass production of engineers and doctors has reduced the quality due to corner-cutting and is, therefore, the cause of mass unemployment.
For livelihood, people have therefore taken jobs that are unrelated to the field of science.
Today, engineering and medical graduates are working in the entertainment industry, finance and banking, retail management, public administration etc.
A trending career path is in management via a Master in Business Administration (MBA) route.
However, there is an oversupply, combined with low quality in that field, too.
According to AIMA, three lakh management students graduate annually, but only 10% are employable.
It is not an individual’s capability in question if a career in engineering or medical profession is unable to take off.
It is a severe mismatch between the supply-demand of these professionals. But the societal psyche continues to stick with engineering and medical as premium careers.
Why rebellion against two-stream career?
Off lately, there has been sarcasm towards engineering and medical streams.
Unfortunately, millions continue to live with misplaced social degradation and guilt. They are nothing more than the victim of societal misunderstanding.
This misplacement of an individual in society resulted in rebellion. Consequently, and consciously, students are exploring other career options.
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The pursuit of engineering, the medical profession, and science, in general, is losing steam
The pursuit of engineering, the medical profession, and science, in general, is losing steam. Frustration is one, and the availability of alternative career opportunities is another.
Over the years, due to economic development in India, there have been fundamental changes in society.
After several years of basic growth and development, families have accumulated financial means and resources.
They can now explore alternative career options, take an entrepreneurial risk, and still not slip into poverty.
Undoubtedly, the economy needs allied professions to support the population; hence, other streams are getting due respect as professional complexities increase.
The allied professions include law, accountancy, language and literature, journalism, history and archaeology, art and performing arts, entertainment, marketing etc.
With globalisation, the options outside India are immense, too. But they are restricted to only demand dictated by the foreign labour market.
Usually, the requirement is for high-quality professionals. Also, the foreign investments in India are bringing newer streams of career opportunities, which do not necessarily feed the Indian market.
They are neither strictly driven by qualifications in science. Instead, they are focused on the market conditions abroad.
For example, more construction workers are required in the middle east than in India or call-centre agents to work for a foreign company in Europe or the USA.
Basics of science are required in all fields. The allied field needs science, too, though not to the deep fundamentals like a science graduate.
For example, people using mobile phones have understood the network concept and have insight into digital communication.
Concepts like delete, upload, memory, power on-off, battery usage, apps (applications), software, and other scientific terms have crept into the life of an ordinary person without them even realising.
If you look closely, it is the science that is in focus in current times, and the world still needs a lot of people with scientific temperaments. That is the genesis of development.
Today, medical science is about 70% engineering, 25% chemistry and only 5% human anatomy.
Invasive instruments, cameras and sensors, imaging, pharma, prosthetic, surgery, DNA and RNA research etc., require the intense interplay of engineering with medical science.
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Future will behold science in our daily lives, and any repulsion from the field of science will pull down the society
Accountants, for example, need a detailed knowledge of engineering and medical science to do the proper accounting and ascertain profitability.
In modern times, accounting is not as simple as bookkeeping as it used to be a few decades ago.
They, too, need insights into manufacturing processes, engineering processes and business processes, that go behind them.
As another example, the same is the case with accountants working for hospitals.
They have to be as knowledgeable about the diseases, treatments, medication, medical equipment and materials, and the typical business processes as someone else in the profession.
The crucial part of understanding the business processes is to know the science running in the background.
Similarly, those in audit services have to be more qualified in that field than the professionals themselves.
The entertainment industry is graduating to about 90% technology usage and its applications.
Animations, virtual reality, sound manipulations, special effects and video editing have taken over conventional studios.
Many blockbuster movies are made solely using high-end special effects and technology for graphic editing.
With time, the contribution of science and technology will grow exponentially.
Future will behold science in our daily lives, and any repulsion from the field of science will pull down the society.
If our lives are so profoundly entrenched in sciences, why not bring science into the mainstream as compulsory education? Why not start the science education early?
There is no point in seeing science and technology separately from any other field in modern times.
The separation of science stream after ten years of education is not a healthy policy.
Instead, science and technology should be seen as necessary conditions for living everyday life in the 21st century.
Future
Today, the strength of India lies in its focus on the scientific education of the past.
As of 2022, there are 39 Indian CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. Likewise, the number of C(X)Os is numerous.
These numbers reflect India’s focus on widespread – low-cost science education since 1947.
As for the economics, whether it is “Made in India” or “Make in India”, the gigantic pool of qualified resources available makes India, a perfect destination for foreign investments.
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... whether it is “Made in India” or “Make in India”, the gigantic pool of qualified resources available makes India a perfect destination for foreign investments
Adapting to new technology and basic understanding makes India a very dynamic society.
The early adoption of technology, especially consumer technology, has made India an open market that has attracted global entrepreneurs.
China and Germany, may be other contemporary countries that competes with technology adoption like India.
Science-focused education is the common factor between India and China, driving this consumer behaviour.
One can observe for themselves the penetration of mobile and digital technology usage by Indians across all ages and spectrums of society.
Whether it is mobile banking, e-commerce, education via digital media or social media, the use is one of the highest in the world.
Though the large population is still not science educated, just believing in its power, the acceptance of science has made society move closer to early adoption.
As a result, the last decade has seen the population’s enormous growth in general knowledge, banking abilities, purchasing decisions, education choices and quality of life.
Trending public rebellion against science stream careers has raised red flags.
Cutting off science education early on in the formative years of schooling, bifurcating the streams as science and non-science streams, will dampen the country’s growth.
Rather than segregating education as a science stream and others, the government should base their education as science-focused, thereby laying a solid foundation for society on science and technology.
Also, the engineering courses need to be upgraded and intertwined into other allied streams, too.
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... engineering courses need to be upgraded and intertwined into other allied streams
In times to come, the interconnection and interdependency will intensely interplay science and technology with all other professions.
Therefore, India must prepare its resources, if it wants to stay independent.
Additional Inputs: Yahiya Khan, Chartered Accountant, India
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