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| CAREER GUIDE | Friday, September 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
Sculpting a future Didn’t make it to IIT? Well, try mini-IIT |
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Sculpting a future
Taking up painting or sculpture as a subject in college is no longer confined to girls wanting to decorate their bio-data with a few paintings for matrimonial purposes, says Prof Brahma Prakash, Principal of the Government College of Art, Sector 10, Chandigarh. A recent trend has shown that more boys are venturing into this line and even girls who are into it want to take up art as a profession, he adds. A survey of the recent admission record in the Government College of Arts shows that a large number of boys are opting for art, which is a reverse trend from the earlier times when this field had been mostly dominated by women. “The main reason for this is that we have started taking students on the basis of 40 per cent merit and 60 per cent aptitude which has opened vistas for the boys too who generally score less in the final examination, says Prof Brahma Prakash. Another recent trend, according to Prof Brahma Prakash, is the entry of a number of meritorious students who have left the engineering or medical streams to join the Government College of Arts. “After completing graduation from the Government College of Arts in painting, sculpture and graphic printing, the students are doing quite well in their respective fields, either freelancing or getting absorbed in advertising agencies mushrooming all over the country,” he says. The Government College of Arts offers four courses — Painting, Applied Arts, Sculptures and Graphics.The criteria for entering Bachelor of Arts is Class XII with 40 per cent minimum marks. The course is of a four-year duration and the academic session starts in August. Each stream has 15 seats of which 60 per cent are reserved for UT pools and the rest 40 per cent for other states. The college plans to add one seat for the deaf and dumb in each field. The college has not started Master’s courses, but according to sources, students passing out from here are readily accepted by arts colleges in New Delhi, Baroda and Shantiniketan. Students are taught extensively about their own field and are also given the basics of other streams. “The main advantage we students here enjoy is that the staff not only channels our skills in the proper direction, but also polishs us for marketing our products”, says Paramjit Singh Rana, a former student of the college who has carved a niche for himself in the field of sculptures. “A student need not necessarily be stuck in the field he had chosen in the college curriculum, says Prof Brahma Prakash. “Once they develop an eye for detail, they can take up jobs at any commercial establishment, for example, even a student of painting can take up a job in an ad agency or a sculpturist can become a professional cameraman,” he adds. There are numerous such cases like that of famous photographer Diwan Manna. In Chandigarh itself there are about five former students of the Government College of Arts working as photojournalists. They are sought after by newspapers because of their aesthetic vision. Though the competition is tough here, aspiring artists need not despair because in the city a number of art institutes have come up in the recent past, which offer hobby classes. City Beautiful Arts Centre, Sector 46, or the Pracheen Kala Kendra, Sector 35, are among the established ones that offer long-term certificate courses. A slightly different field — Master’s in History of Arts is being offered by the Panjab University Fine Arts Department and similarly Master of Fine Arts is being offered by Punjabi University, Patiala. The high cost factor of art materials can prove to be somewhat expensive for a degree student, with Rs 6000 admission plus tuition fee per annum at the Government College of Arts, but students here can always earn pocket money by taking private assignments. The college, too, from time to time engages its students in outside assignments. For exmple quite a few number of final-year students are working in the Delhi Metro beautification project, which is not just helping them earn but is also giving them exposure. “A student after spending a year or two here can easily earn an average of Rs 2000 per month,” says a student. And once he develops his skills here, the sky’s the limit.  |
Didn’t make it to IIT? Well, try mini-IIT New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology need no longer be quite as exclusive as they have been — thanks to a new experiment in distance learning called mini-IIT, an Indian government expert has indicated. The experiment was cited by Mr S. Prabhakaran, Education Satellite Adviser for the Indian Space Research Organisation, among new efforts in distance education at an international conference in New Delhi.The effort involved seven distance learning centres set up across Maharashtra by the IIT, Mumbai, to deliver through local trainers standard education to students who took the entrance test but could not be admitted to the IIT. The “mini-IITs’’ were giving the same interactive instruction that the regular IIT students were getting, the inaugural session of Distance Learning India —
2003 was told.This could be replicated nationwide to provide IIT-level education to larger numbers of students without multiplying IITs, thus cutting costs of high technology instruction for the government as well as students. Experts pointed out that distance education learning was no longer just a tool for so-called informal instruction or education as it was once regarded. It now could help produce doctors, engineers, managers and other professionals. Technology, they said, had made much of the difference, making feasible things that were not so just a few years ago, or even a year ago. The conference organised jointly by the Telecommunications Department and a private group called Exhibitions India was told by another expert that distance education in India was not so much an option as a compulsion. Currently, according to Indira Gandhi National Open University Pro-Vice-Chancellor S.C. Garg, “We are able to reach out to only 7 per cent of the eligible students.’’ In a message to the organisers, Minister of State for Elementary Education and Literacy Sanjay Paswan described government efforts to enhance literacy across India through distance education. Nearly half of India’s population is non-literate and normal classroom education is not sufficient to end illiteracy. Distance education is one way to reach out to remote areas and educate large numbers of people.—
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QUERY HOTLINE Q I would love to write a novel or books for children but I think I need to polish my skills. Are there any short courses I could pursue? My father says writing can’t be learnt through a course, it must come naturally. Supreet Kaur A Writers may write in a burst of inspiration-but even the best writers are concerned with technique, with how to achieve the effects they want. And contrary to all that spiel about "born" writers, I’m firmly convinced that writing is a craft that can be learnt. Once you have grasped the fundamentals of plot, structure, character, voice, dialogue, and description, you will be on a surer footing. And for this, a course in creative writing would be useful. Creative writing covers all areas of non-journalistic and technical writing. It is a broad term that includes the following genres: fiction writing, screenwriting, scriptwriting, memoir writing, nonfiction writing, , novel writing, poetry writing, playwriting, children’s books, TV serial writing, humour writing, mystery writing, romance writing, writing lyrics, science fiction writing, travel writing, feature writing, writing book reviews, interviews, film or art criticism and business communication You could choose from any of the following courses through distance learning: Indira Gandhi National Open University ((www.ignou.ac.in). Course: 1) Creative Writing in English/Hindi. 2) Certificate in Writing for Radio. Karnataka State Open University, Manasgangotri, Mysore. Course: Creative Writing in Eng. UP Rajarshi Tandon Open University, 17 Maharshi Dayanand Marg, Allahabad. Course: Creative Writing in English/Hindi. These courses are fairly reasonably priced (Rs 1,300-2000/-) and can be pursued at your own pace. Petroleum engg Q I am interested in studying Petroleum Engineering. Could you please tell me about the institutions offering such courses, eligibility criteria and the selection procedure. Ajay Prabhu, Panchkula A The opening up of the Indian petroleum sector to private players coupled with the dismantling of price controls and the increasing consumption of petroleum products has given this industry a new and much-needed fillip. The following institutions offer BE/BTech courses in Petrochemical/Petroleum Engineering: Amravati University, Deptt. of Chemical Technology, Near Tapovan, Amravati. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, PO Lonere, Tal Mangaon, Distt. Raigad. Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (Nagpur University), Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Nagpur. Maharashtra Institute of Technology (University of Pune), S. No. 124, Kothrud, Paud Road, Pune. Aligarh Muslim University, Institute of Petroleum Studies & Chemical Engineering, Aligarh (Also MSc in Petroleum Processing & Petrochem). Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad.. Nagpur University, Laxminarayan Instt of Tech, Nagpur. University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehra Dun Employment Q I am a fresh BE in electronics and telecom. I have gone through various jobsites for entry-level positions in telecom but could not find any. All those I could spot were for people having experience of more than 5 to 10 years. I don’t know what to do now as I think I have chosen a wrong field. Do you think I should switch to software? Karan Vijay Singh A First of all, don’t be nervous — and whenever you do, remember software and telecom are the tidal wave of the present era with never — before imagined numbers of opportunities. On the other hand, I can entirely appreciate and sympathise with your dilemma — the catch-22 game of jobs requiring work experience and work experience not being possible without a job! It is true that many job ads do specify BE/BTech/MCA plus experience. But then as you may have observed, not many of these are entry-level positions. Also, it is natural for employers to advertise their ideal "wish list". But don’t let that deter you unnecessarily at this stage. You should be able to get an entry-level job by taking the initiative in your own hands. As regards making a shift to software, you must be aware that some of the hottest streams in this sector are information security, and convergence. Convergence seeks to make valuable information and data from the Web accessible through a variety of devices such as the TV set, mobile phone, PDA, etc. rather than simply through the PC. This is achieved by the coming together of the Internet, computer and telecommunication ("coming together", thus convergence). Thus, telecom and s/w are beginning to move closer. The ideal route may be to first get a job in telecom; once in the field you will have a better idea of the specialist s/w you need to leverage your knowledge base of telecom. Also with IT jobs picking up, companies are recruiting fresh engineering graduates as software trainees. Scour the newspapers and the Net for these openings. Please send in your query preferably on a postcard along with your name, complete address and academic qualifications to: |
CHANDIGARH:
Art as a subject is no longer frowned upon. The bohemian tag attached to the artist commune which stopped parents from encouraging their children to take up art as a career earlier, is now attracting the younger generation — daring to be different — to choose this as a profession. The commercial success of new-generation artists is, of course, yet another factor contributing to the subject’s popularity.