MY TRYST WITH NIIT

In 1991 or so I used to be a student of  NIIT for nearly one year which was a life changing experience. I used to work as a electrical maintenance engineer in Graphite India durinng this time.There were many computer training institutes around the country from 1980 to 2000 ,according to me the sole reason for the vibrancy of the Indian economy because these institutes retailed education to the advantage of many sections and sectors of the populace.

NIIT read NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY was one of the earliest in this feild followed by many others thereafter. NIIT used to run news-paper ads almost every day attracting scores of students across the length and breadth of the country.

I decided to respond to one such ad and strayed into the NIIT center in Richmond road one evening on my way back from work and was given a test. Swarna Mohan a product of BITS Pilani was one of the counsellors and I decided to do a course in Cobol. The fee was Rs.6000/- in all and I must record that my mother was more than enthusiastic to provide the finances.Anything pertaining to learning and education my mother used to be pro-active at funding it. For all practical purposes I was a student at NIIT for one year ..the classes were three hours duration I think thrice a week. Ajith Sowdas used to be the course co-ordinator.

NIIT did one good thing for me.It converted me from a Electrical Engineer who used to work in dusty shop-floors of factories to a different domain of air-conditioned rooms. I headed the Information Science department of a MBA college for more than a year thanks to the experience at NIIT. Swarna  Mohan my counsellor of these times later was the HR head of NIIT. There used to a cultural fest of NIIT every year held at St. Josephs European school.

Why am I so enthusiastic of recording this experience. We in India must create more of such retail educational courses at relatively low fees which would be a big game-changer for people. The entry requirements must be made bare minimum to the extent of an interview. Basic computer science, the english language, advanced computing subjects , finance and a host of related domains  can be served through the retail sector from relatively congested out-fits of all cities where in a professional way education could flow and dissipate unbounded and unfettered  to the strategic advantage of all stake-holders.