The course of engineering is normally a four-year journey. A trip that constructs our hearts for all the fun we had in those four years, the pain we endured in those 4 years, the heartbreaks we felt in those four years, and much more.
This pandemic took almost half of it from us. almost two years be it learning, friends, work, relationships, or college. Basically, everything that defined engineering.
some peeps were in their finals preparing for GATE, some were trying to secure some internships, some enjoying nights out with friends, some enjoying studies in the hostel, and BAMM! turned all that into sitting in front of a webcam.
in this article we will go over the things that got taken from us, how and can we even recover from them, and what the education system needs to focus on most. so that our lives can get on track again.
What we lost
The main thing we lost was two academic years. just ask yourself what the education system provided you in the last two years in the name of engineering. For most people, the answer would be “Sitting in front of laptop screens and staring at professors trying to teach from ppts and sharing some youtube videos”.
Those who were in their first year were automatically given the credit of ‘PASS’ while they weren’t even mentally ready to handle the next year, That resulted in most of them not understanding proceeding years and missing out on vital subjects like programming languages, logic, and digital electronics.
Students who were in their second year faced a similar kind of problem no data structure knowledge, no logic development, no experience in working on group projects and missed social subjects which are a vital part of social problem-solving.
The majority of students love college life, they worked hard to earn the best version of it. some had dreams about IIT and NIT’s engineering colleges. They worked hard to achieve it and prepared for years to score well in JEE or GATE.
They paid handsome fees for the best hostels, and services and are now sitting in front of a laptop just absolutely dreaming about getting on campus, sitting in glorious classes. Their whole struggle was just meaningless with no fruit to savor.
Students who just took admitted in the first year or students with lateral admission haven’t even seen their friends in person it’s all just WhatsApp and Facebook talk. think about how close you would have been in the last year and a half.
All the students who were in their third and final year had it worse than anyone. The internship offers closed down. Those who got it had to work from home drastically reducing the quality of learning. some lost jobs and opportunities for jobs got reduced.
How much of it we lost
More than 15 vital subjects are considered core studies for computer engineering such as logic, mathematics, programming, and network systems.
Students never actually did practices of more than 20 subjects, missed the group projects, built no team coordination, lost 3 chances at authentic examinations, and were forced to give exams on unfinished platforms which were just sad.
From our audit we found out that in most colleges the subjects with low credit weren’t even taught, students were just supposed to submit some write-ups and be done with them.
I am obviously topics like humanities, social science, environmental studies, and business communication which were all vital in molding the student into a good citizen who can actually think about social issues and try to solve them.
Coming on the topic of campus life and friend we have to realize we lost a colossal part in it. More than 2 college festivals, gatherings, fresher parties, send-off parties, social events organized by the college, important workshops, and the intense submission process, seriously the younglings aren’t even prepared for the submission period.
Finally how much did the finals and third-year peeps lose? Here’s my answer. internships prepare us for jobs, jobs prepare us for better jobs, and these were the things they lost. some were preparing for GATE, some were setting up startups and got halted.
“Of the employers that are continuing with their internships, 75% have made at least one change to their internship program,” says Koc. “About 40% of them are introducing a virtual internship, another 40% are shortening the internship by delaying the start date of the internship and about 20% are reducing the number of interns they’re going to bring on board in the summer.”
Above was a statistical report from a newsletter from a trusted news outlet The CNBC network.
This is just the internship part now imagine how jobs were affected by the pandemic. it’s just cruel and sad. so many lives changed completely for financially weak people and a massive blow to even somewhat stable families.
Now, How do we recover
The education system can recover from this loss over time given that everything started soon and they try to heal the damage through extensive practices and careful planning about organizing the syllabus for the next semesters. Yes, a revamp of the whole system is needed.
Sadly the loss of college life and time lost that could have been spent enjoying with friends is the damage that cannot be healed. although you can try to enjoy the remaining time in your course to the fullest. that’s the only possible way.
Coming at vital knowledge for computer engineering act fast if you don’t have enough time, learn to code from interactive websites, read extra books about logic and implementation, get your head in network systems, and data structures, and practice a lot.
Now the last part jobs and internships, I highly recommend preparing for gate rather than doing internships as it better pre[airs you for the future you may even get into PSU and if you can handle higher education financially get into MTECH and fly further.
Conclusion
- The current online education system isn’t ready to deliver results of the same caliber that offline could provide previously.
- You are not alone in this boat, everyone is stuck.
- Don’t look back and stress over something you can’t recover and focus on things you can.
- Only you can help yourself Move forward.
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