Over the past decade, SITE ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRY had been waging a soft battle for the restructuring of the Government College of Technology situated on 109 acres of prime land in the largest industrial estate in Pakistan. The stalwarts of the Association lamented at every available forum the deteriorating conditions at GCT and how this prestigious institute was hostage to rebellious students, irresponsible teachers, and uninterested officials. Unfortunately, the political hierarchy in the province was never interested in getting this institute in working condition and no matter which government was in power, the attitude was of indifference, was of suspicion, and was of carelessness. The political leadership was of the firm opinion that the industrialists were out to be nothing but a Qabza group, and that once these entrepreneurs got their hands on the GCT, they will ensure that it will be no more a learning institution but an enclave with a bunch of small factories obviously minting money and squeezing every drop of blood out of the hapless workforce.

Luckily for the future of GCT, the political leadership was sent to the wilderness and the reins of the government came into the solid hands of an enlightened Governor. Within no time, the Education Department, the Technical Education Project consultants, and the SITE Association of Industry, joined hands and formed the first ever Institute Management Committee for any technical institute in Sindh. This, of course, did not bode well for the tutors and the students and they joined into an alliance to thwart the plan to bring about sanity in the GCT, to bring about change in the workings, and to bring about modernization in the precious institute. Some of the government officials too played along and with hands crossed waited for the proposal to fizzle away. 

However, there are those who want to see the project thru and are instrumental in trying to salvage the institute. These include the Sindh Governor, the Chief Secretary, the Education Secretary, the industrialists, and the consultants. They are of the theory that with proper nourishment, with proper determination, and with proper methods, there can be formidable change for the better in GCT and it’s lost glory can be restored within a stipulated time frame. The road to success has started with the first small step of building linkages between the industry, that requires trained personnel, and the institute, which teaches skills and develops the needed technical manpower. This is the mission and this is imperative if the nation’s enterprises are to have a foothold in the global village.

Over the past decades, the GCT has been neglected with a vengeance and this has played havoc with the infrastructure that was so devotedly procured over four decades ago. The traditional mindset of the planners and policy makers to give low priority to education and especially human resource development is more vivid in the case of GCT SITE. There has been criminal misuse of facilities and there has been total emphasis on churning out incompetent graduates who were deprived of formal tutoring, who were unable to have access to latest state-of-the-art equipment, and who had no idea what industrial environment was all about. Again, the most important ingredient was missing. There was no interaction with industry that needed graduates from GCT. Although the case of GCT is given as an example, the scenario is not different in the other technical institutes.

The education meted out to the students does not provide them the formal training to be enterprising in the positive mode. What is being dished out in the name of education is turning the students into intolerant minds with a dogmatic sense of priorities that direct their attitude towards a destructive behavior, towards a self-righteous approach, and towards a restrictive conduct. What is lacking is sensitivity to a future in the mainstream of life and what is more prevalent is a non-chalant outlook to sustainability of self and one’s family. The failure of the scholars to instil the power of humanity into the students is the fundamental cause for the decay in the technical institutes. The industry too preferred to stay away from the mess created in these institutes and this further aggravated the situation. The less said about government’s role, the better it is for the heart.

Therefore, it is now imperative that the industry should shed its hands-off posture and venture forward to rescue the institutes from those forces that are inimical to progress and prosperity. The student body has to be convinced that there is still hope and that the status quo cannot be allowed to hover over the institutes. The world is moving rapidly and the students still prefer to spend their time playing hooky from classes and doing unproductive and destructive activities. The heavy reliance on political ideology cannot and must not be the paramount criteria for a student’s scholastic term. The students must be inculcated with learning skills and it must be ensured that when the teaching period ends, these students are capable of entering the portals of industry and playing their decisive role in enhancing the company’s quality, productivity, and manufacturing capabilities.

The industry essentially needs skilled people who have gone thru the grind mill and are actively seeking outlets to hone their skills and their training. The industry will not accept those who prefer to adhere to the indoctrination of political parties or of the convoluted minds in the teachers’ cadre who would prefer to produce students bent upon being martyrs or megalomaniacs. The industry is looking for technocrats who can manage and operate with pragmatic zeal and with a sense of honest-to-goodness purpose. This is the message that has to go across with force and with intensity.

The industrialists who have taken upon the crusade for restructuring, revamping, and reinventing the technical education regime in the country reiterate their commitment to the achievement of their plans, and somberly bring into focus their contention that the teachers and the administrators of these institutes should come out of their cocoons and join hands with the private sector to attain the objectives. There has to be an universal acceptance of the fact that industry and vocational training and skill development go together and that the time has come to bring out the best in the future generation so that the nation’s onslaught in to the global market is backed by

a formidably trained workforce. The achievement of this objective is the prime motivating drive for the industrialists of the country, and the present management teams in the various IMCs epitomize the very essence of this goal.

I was reading an old issue of Reader’s Digest and I came upon this "Point to Ponder" by Christopher Williams and I would like to share this gem. A leading architect once built a cluster of office buildings set in a central green. The landscape crew asked him where he wanted the sidewalks between the buildings. His reply: "Just plant grass between the buildings." By late summer the new lawn was laced with pathways of trodden grass. The paths followed the most efficient line between the points of connection, turned in easy curves rather than at right angles and were sized according to traffic flow. In the fall the architect simply paved in the pathways. Not only did the paths have a design beauty, but they responded directly to user needs. This small narration very clearly portrays the concept of building linkages between the industry and the institutes. This is the message for the students, the teachers, the officials, and the industrialists. And herein lies the answer for the country’s march on the avenue of prosperity.

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