Right lessons

With the onset of the summer holiday season, railway stations are not the only places where people are headed in large numbers. Computer training centers are fast replacing swimming and music classes on the popularity charts in middle class home as the favorite summer vocation. 

In Chennai, the great computer-training season has just started. All the players in the distinct segments of entry level, middle and high-end courses are preparing for the summer rush. It is here that the benefit of the presence of large number of private players becomes evident in the higher education segment. The rigidity associated with the formal stream of education is totally absent. The academic calendar is tailored to the needs of the potential clients. Short term, long term and crash courses are on offer in different disciplines. Convenient timings are an essential feature of the private training sector. 

Also, the courses on offer, cover a wide range of segments and topics, and cater to a large section of people. Particularly noteworthy are the special crash courses aimed at creating IT-literacy among varied segments such as senior citizens, home makers, different set of professionals and of course, for students, ranging from toddlers to nursery students to courses for specific levels of students. This is a commendable step on the part of the private computer training centers. 

They are aiming to develop the market and create potential clients for their future offerings. At the same time, they are providing an important service, which will go a long way in increasing our citizen's familiarity with computers. Clearly, the private sector has identified the gaps in the offerings by the formal stream of technical institutions and taking computer literacy to the masses in a big way.

Competition has certainly driven down the prices for computers. Every potential customer has a host of options. The private computer training industry has flourished thanks to minimum interference from the governments. Barring a few government-financed institutions, the field is open for anyone. The top players have invested heavily in branding. This is paying them back with good returns and the new entrants are striving to reach the levels of the top players. By and large, the players have played it fair. It is one of the least regulated segments of the educational set up. 

Some attempts by the Department of Electronics (DoE), now part of the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT) has not met with much success. Success in the market place and competition alone has kept the industry going. Despite the spectacular failure of a few players, the industry has kept its head above the waters. While the going is still good, it is time to take a leaf from other industrial segments. The training industry should come together, keeping aside their competitive concerns and start looking seriously at the need for self-regulation. It will not be long before formal regulatory mechanisms will come in. The industry should take the first step to keep putting its best foot forward always.