Intermediate Education at the age of 15-17 years is very critical and crucial in the career path of students. Every year nearly eight lakh students appear for Senior IPE and this year 58 per cent got through. The remaining 42 per cent of students go for improvement or supplementary examinations or for some odd jobs.

Majority of the Inter students are from M.P.C and Bi.P.C streams, focusing on technical and professional courses at UG level are subject to great stress, strain and tension especially in corporate junior colleges by their prolonged hours of teaching, daily tests, simultaneous preparation for prestigious entrance tests for good ranks.

In fact, they face not only pressure from college faculty but also from parents who have lot of expectations from their children. They set high goals, most of the time unattainable, like admission into IITs, NITs etc, without even thinking whether their ward is suitable for the technical and professional course.

Technical courses like B.Tech require a particular mental profile. All and sundry cannot pursue these courses. Gaining admission into reputed institutions like IITs means high level IQ which many students lack. The fact that nearly five lakh students appear for IIT entrance test for approximately 10,000 seats reflects not only the craze but also over enthusiastic  expectations of both students and parents.

The corporate junior colleges are cashing on this and collecting lakhs of rupees from such gullible parents. The pressure from the parents, faculty and college sometimes makes the student nervous. The daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly test makes some students jittery which boomerangs and results in total withdrawal. The attempts and efforts of the colleges for the total engagement of the students with its mechanical and rote routine makes the student to miss the other aspects of family and social life having its cascading affect on students’ emotional growth.

Some rural and remote area students fare academically well, secure reasonably good percentage but unaware of names and nature of different entrance tests appear for a seat in technical UG courses for lack of proper guidance. Even today, some students are unaware of the process and procedure of web counseling and feel highly diffident and fall prey to some unscrupulous brokers.

Off late a new trend is emerging in the ambit of admissions. Despite entrance tests, ranks, reservations, web counseling etc, there are under hand dealings with monetary benefit to middlemen, faculty, principal etc, and engineering college authorities. These middle men charge more or less one year fee of the student as their commission to get that boy/girl admitted in the specified college. The colleges in their anxiety and hurry to fill up seats for their survival join hands with such persons.

Keeping in view the number of EAMCET qualified students and the number of seats available in engineering colleges in AP, every ranker is bound to get a seat in Engineering. The problem is only with choice branch and college. Thus many irregularities are creeping into the system. The faculties of junior colleges and caste leaders have sway over Inter students and they are being deliberately admitted in to sub- standard colleges, ultimately victimizing students for their innocence, ignorance and blind faith.

The failed Inter students have no direction except appearing for supplementary examinations. They are unaware of several skill enhancement programmes to equip them with employable skills. The Inter pass students are not fully aware of the courses available for higher studies, the combinations of group subjects and their job market etc. Some students have inherent phobia that their mother tongue medium is unsuitable for higher technical courses and they have a feeling that they cannot adjust with rigor and vigour of professional college. Some are not prepared to miss home/ mother cooked food and leave their native place though they have many possibilities to go up the ladder of education.

Not all students finishing their intermediate want to pursue higher studies. Many want to get into a job because of their family financial conditions or simply for the reason that they have no interest in further studies or higher studies but many who want to get a job do not know where to start and which field they can fit into.

In Intermediate there are combinations of Arts, Commerce and Science, HEC (History, Economics, Civics) CEC (Civics, Economics, Commerce) MEC (Maths, Economics, Commerce), HCT (History, Civics, Telugu), Biology and Physical Sciences, MPC (Maths, Physics, Chemistry). Intermediate is a career determining course hence one should be very careful in opting for a particular combination. The students whose left brain is active should opt for science and maths combination. The students whose right brain is active and dominating should opt for arts and other language combinations. The basic point to be remembered while opting for the combination is the ultimate interest of the student. The peers and the parents should not impose any pressure on the student in selecting his/ her combination of study.

Nowadays all groups and combinations have excellent opportunities for higher studies and jobs. If a student chooses a particular group out of interest, not out of force, he devotes all his time and energies for the pursuit of his/ her chosen subjects and comes out with flying colours.

There are several vocational courses at the Intermediate level offered by the Intermediate board in the areas of Crop Production and Management, Dairying, Fisheries, Sericulture, Accounting and Taxation, Marketing & Salesmanship, Office Assistantship, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance and Marketing, Automobile Engineering Technician, Construction Technology, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics Engineering Technician, Electrical Wiring & Servicing of Electrical Appliances, Rural Engineering Technician, Water Supply & Sanitary Engineering, DTP & Printing Technology, Commercial Garment Designing & Making, Fashion Garment Making, Hotel operations, Pre–School Teacher Training, Computer Graphics & Animation, Tourism and Travel Technique, Medical Lab Technician, Multipurpose Health Worker (F), Ophthalmic Technician, Physiotherapy etc. Though some students are interested to join these courses, unfortunately colleges offering these courses don’t have the qualified and skilled faculty and required lab equipment. Hence, the hands on experience which a student is supposed to get are not being provided in many cases.

For some vocational courses there are no UG courses for pursuing higher studies. For certain courses there are UG programmes but the Intermediate vocational course pass outs are not given direct admission because the admission into those courses are being done on the basis of ranks of entrance tests. Thus, these courses are not being favoured by majority of the students as most of them are courses without future.

The job opportunities for inter pass students lack poor pay and security. The jobs offered with Intermediate qualification are at lower level both in Government and Private sector. Jobs like police constable, home guards, record assistant, attenders, VAOs etc, are available in government sector but the career growth of these jobs is not encouraging. In Private sector too, small companies offer office assistant, shop accountant, security guards, delivery boys and sundry housekeeping jobs etc, for which monthly pay is not attractive. The students are advised not to stop with Intermediate qualification but go for higher studies.

Governments are liberally funding and almost 85 per cent of U.G students are under fee reimbursement scheme in their graduate courses and also getting scholarships for their monthly maintenance. Higher education is the only panacea for social and economic uplift of families below poverty line. The present position of only 12.5 per cent of students pursuing higher education should be enhanced by greater enrollment of students in UG courses, Technical and general. Unless inevitable, students should not stop their studies with Intermediate.

There are many skilled training programmes for Inter failed students to make them employable. Certificate courses for 3/6/12 month’s duration are available to equip the candidates with some skill to cater to the general needs of the society. Some are offered in ITI and many others outside ITI. The skills relate to occupations like Electrician, Fitter, Plumber, Turner, Draftsman, Black Smith, Mason, Carpentry, Tailoring, Nursing, Midwifery, Land Scaping, Sales and Marketing, DTP operator, Fabric designing, Photography, Videographer, Catering and culinary arts, Travel and tourism, Dairying, Poultry, Driving Four Wheelers, Heavy vehicles, Crane Operators, Mechanism of Fridge, AC, TV, Camera, Watch, Mobile, Radio etc. There is continuous demand for these skills/ occupations not only in our country but also in many countries abroad. Serving with these skills abroad gets substantial income. Thousands of skilled personnel are leaving the country for greener pastures like Gulf countries, USA etc for lucrative vocations.

The higher educational opportunities for Inter pass students are many and varied. The first opening is to pursue UG courses in general stream like BA and B.Com (for all inter pass students), B.Sc life sciences for Inter Bi.P.C, and B.Sc physical sciences for Inter M.P.C with traditional and job-oriented combinations. They are available in Humanities, Social Sciences, Languages, Commerce and Business in regular colleges and also in correspondence courses. The applied and re-structured combinations with two basic group subjects and one applied group subjects like Journalism, Mass Communication, Business Administration, Animation and Graphics, Public Relations, Rural development, Music and Dance, Foreign Languages etc, offer excellent Job Opportunities. The B.Com course in cost accounts, Secretarial practice, office management and procedures and computer systems etc. offer immediate jobs.

A B.Sc wit Life sciences like botany, zoology, chemistry with a combination of applied courses like horticulture, floriculture, fisheries, sericulture, poultry, dairy, genetics, biochemistry etc. offer good opportunities for both higher studies and jobs. A B.Sc with physical sciences offers nearly 35 PG programmes in the broad areas of Maths, Physics, and Chemistry. These candidates have excellent opportunities for careers in civil services. Defence forces, banks, teaching, industry units etc. The Inter pass students with Bi.P.C combination have opportunities to pursue professional courses like Medicine, Pharmacy, Dental science and all para medical courses. Now most of the Inter M.P.C students are pursuing B.Tech programmes in both core and non-core branches.

Nowadays B.Tech has become a most sought after programme of study at UG level as it is a gateway for higher salaried IT jobs/ opportunities for going abroad. There are two admission modules into UG courses for Inter pass students. Admissions are being done on the basis of Inter pass marks in BA, B. Sc, B.Com, BBA, BBM, B.Sc (Home science, BPT, B.Sc (Nursing), and B.Sc (MLT) are done on the basis of Inter marks strictly adhering to Merit and reservation rules. But for courses like B.Tech, MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS, B.Pharmacy, B.Sc Agriculture and other allied subjects like fisheries, horticulture, etc., the admissions are being done on the basis of ranks obtained by the candidates in various entrance tests.

For Technical and Professional courses there are entrances tests like EAMCET, IIT-JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT etc, to which lakhs of students appear. In addition to the above, IIITs like Dhirubhai Ambani conduct their own entrance examinations and universities, Deemed to be Universities like VIT, VIGNAN, SRM, GITAM, Manipal, Amrutha, Satyabhama, Karunya, Kalinga etc. have their own entrance tests. Governments of Karnataka, Orissa conduct their own entrance tests. For admission into MBBS, BDS, B.Pharm - Eamcet in AP, AIIMS, AFMC, AIMA (Kerala), Entrance tests of Manipal University, Christian Medical College, Sree Ramachandra Medical College, Vinayaka Mission University etc, are there.

For admission into Agriculture and other Allied courses- Food science and Technology, Dairy Technology, Veterinary Science, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Fisheries, Naturopathy in AP, EAMCET is the basis. ALL INDIA ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO  BACHELOR’S degree in AGRI and ALLLIED courses are also there. There are entrance tests for admission into law, fashion technology, hotel management, CA, CS and ICWA.

The fee reimbursement scheme is providing greater access to higher education especially Technical courses to deprived sections. It is because of this flagship programme both the party in Government and colleges, despite their increased number and deficiencies are getting admissions and surviving. The students of less fortunate sections are pursuing professional courses having greater employment opportunities with attractive salaries. All these days the inability to pay the tuition fees by these deprived sections made the study of engineering an exclusive privilege of fortunate sections. All right thinking academicians are encouraging this though there are initial complaints and hiccups about such student’s performance etc. If one member of the family gets technical education definitely the whole family gets elevated socially and economically but unfortunately there are some misuses and abuses.

There are funny instances like of a parent coming to the college in his own four wheeler luxury car to handover the parental annual income certificate with less than Rupees one lakh per annum to claim fee reimbursement for his/her ward.

Deliberate steps have to be taken to save EAMCET rankers hailing from remote areas and from under privileged sections from the trap of self seeking elements. The first step in this direction is to sensitize the intermediate course itself about the process of web counseling by organizing required orientation programmes, providing practical hands-on experience in web-counseling, cautioning the students concerned not to disclose their registration ID to any one, educating them before hand, how the innocent students are being trapped by rouge elements that landed many students in less known and low rated colleges. These steps will have telling effect on the students. Giving wide publicity to such cases of investigation and arrest of those anti-social elements, their prosecution and punishments imposed by courts will have electrifying impact on the minds of aspiring students and parents.

Some mother tongue medium students feel diffident that they cannot pursue B.Tech course which is invariably in English medium. When they can master Telugu language with 56 alphabets, difficult and complicated grammar, they can easily acquire command and working knowledge of English with 26 alphabets and very simple grammar. English classes with focus on Business English make them confident and follow the lessons with no difficulty. After two or three months of professional college instruction there will be definite improvement in the students English language skills, listening, reading, speaking and writing.

As they are not familiar with the systems/ procedures of a professional college, some students feel that they cannot adjust. Generally the present generations of students, the future hope of the country, are smart and brilliant with commitment and dedication. Very soon they acclimatize with professional college procedures and practices by their regular attendance, lab work, English medium instruction, semester system, mid exams and their impact on final percentage. Interaction with seniors, ragging if any, assignments, online tests, paper presentations etc.

On the day of the freshers’ party, it is a feast to the eye to see the junior students’ exuberance and enthusiasm and their active participation and involvement in their colorful attire with radiant charm on their faces. This is a clear proof that they are able to gel with new environment and acquaintances in a short span of one or two months. Hence it is felt that these Intermediate students can easily steer their way, shape or mould themselves as a trained skilled manpower to cater to the national and global needs/ jobs of tomorrow and make India proud in the comity of nations as the largest exporter of technical and professional workforce. This silver line is already visible on the horizon of the International sky.

(The author is Dean, ACE Engineering College, Hyderabad.)