In a bid to reduce pressure on students in b-schools, the Human Resources Development ministry’s Curriculum Review Council has drawn up a rather extraordinary list of ‘things to do’ as compulsory activities from this academic year onwards. The list has twenty activities, but students will have to choose any three to successfully complete the course. The activities will count in a student’s bid to graduate with a gold medal or a name in the director’s list.
These new courses will be mandatory at the Indian Institutes of Management as well as b-schools approved by the All India Council for Technical Education.
According to sources in the ministry, the mandatory activities include ballet, playing the cello, communicating in Morse Code, paper-flower making, clay modelling, cooking, charcoal painting, T’ai Chi, Haiku poetry, woollen knitting, candle-making, ballroom dancing and practising Reiki. The list was drawn up on the recommendation of a number of industry stalwarts, psychiatrists and educationists over the last one year. According to an HRD spokesman, these activities were intended to reduce stress levels among students that had been leading to unpleasant situations worrying parents and faculty alike.
A series of meetings were initiated early in 2011 to address the quality of student life in technical institutions, including b-schools. Informal surveys were conducted with students, parents and professors to identify the exact reasons for stress. Subjective research revealed that if students were engaged in some ‘light activity’, then stress level were bound to come down.
“At the moment, students only do assignments and presentations for the two years they are here. There is no sleep and their eating habits become irregular. This builds up and in a way works on their emotional makeup,” said an IIM director who was part of the Council that has recommended these activities.
Currently, talks are being held with ballet, music teachers and artists to teach these extraordinary subjects at b-schools. The resultant increase in demand for cellos would be met by starting a dedicated public sector undertaking (PSU) company for producing musical instruments. The PSU would also visit b-schools for summer and final placements. Morse Code transmitters may however be sourced from ship breaking yards, as well-known consumer electronics companies such as Samsung and LG have refused to show interest in supplying these obsolete devices to b-schools. “Considering the increasing cost of surface and aerial transportation, corporations may soon have to revert to trading and travelling using ships and steamers. Communicating in Morse Code with each other and with lighthouses would therefore be a vital soft-skill for managers of tomorrow. The logistics are being worked out. B-schools are spread across the country but we want to run this through a centralised system so that the teaching is uniform. We are also working on the schedule,” said the HRD spokesman.
But not all b-schools are particularly pleased with the latest salvo from the government. The director of a school in east India said that this would mean cutting down on lecture times of the more important subjects which will be detrimental to the education. “How should we make time? Stress levels are a concern but why think of a solution like this?”
Another director said that the government was taking the stress issue too far. “There is stress in everyone’s lives, why only students? If MBA students cannot take stress at this level, what will they do further in life,” he asked.
Students did not give a clear reaction to the courses. One student from an IIM said that ballet dancing and cello lessons will only be a distraction from their class schedule. Another student from an AICTE-affiliated school in Mumbai said that it will actually be fun and nothing wrong in learning something new in life. “I always wanted to learn ballroom dancing but never got the time and never had the money. Now if I am getting to learn it free of cost, why not?”
The government official further added that MBA students will learn about the hidden talents they have which will surface through these classes. “With the job market again going slow, this might be just the way to ensure that nobody is ever jobless,” he added.
An official announcement is expected to be made on Monday on the matter.