Thursday 15 October 2015

Visualising career guidance relevant to the present context

On 14th October 2015 roughly around 8 lakh pharmacists in India went on strike to protest against the national government’s move to regularise the online sale of medicines ( Daily Mail, 2015). Then there were violent protests across the world against the online taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber by traditional taxi service providers. Simultaneously on the other hand there were research studies which were coming out with a long list of endangered jobs which included taxi drivers, factory workers, news reporters, farmers, clerks etc which had the heavy risk of automation. Even the most aspired profession by youngsters in India like certified chartered accountant was revealed to have heavy risk of automation.

Science and Technology is acting as a powerful agent in reducing the middlemen between producers and consumers. When compared to activities like construction of dams, thermal power plants or mining the number of people being displaced from traditional occupations or jobs as a result of evolving technology is much larger. On the positive side reduction in intermediaries in the supply chain will considerably bring down the cost of medicines and other 'goods and services' given the condition that there is no monopoly. While on the negative side it will continue to displace large number of people from traditional occupations. It is also a formidable challenge for our nation which has now embarked on a 'Digital India' initiative. The whole world will be curiously looking forward to see how we are going to tackle issues arising from technology in the development of a Nation.

Apart from the risk of automation of jobs another prominent challenge that technology is posing to us is the migration of jobs across the geography. Consider the case of USA. For almost half a century american manufacturing industry dominated the globe. In 1965, manufacturing accounted for 53 percent of its economy. By 1988 it only accounted for 39 percent, and in 2004, it accounted for just 9 percent (Morley, 2006). Today China has replaced US to become the major manufacturing hub for the globe. The revolution in the information and communication technology accompanied by the decreasing cost and increasing efficiency of the means of transportation is going to make the migration of jobs and opportunities across the globe much more easier and frequent. Given such a complex scenario where prospects or scope for no single job is going to remain stable, how do we go about career guidance for our young generation? How do we equip our current education system to meet these challenges?

As of now our exam frenzy education system can only give rise to a generation of rote learners who will end up seeking livelihoods; not based on their ability to think but on their ability to do monotonous tasks. And of course no matter how much they struggle the efficiency of the machines will certainly beat human beings in doing monotonous tasks.

A study by researchers at Oxford University and Deloitte reveals that roles requiring employees to think on their feet and to come up with creative and original ideas hold a significant advantage in the face of automation. Additionally it says that occupations involving tasks that require a high degree of social intelligence and negotiating skills are considerably less at risk from machines.”( BBC, 2015)

All this will inevitably lead us to ask the most serious question of whether our education system is sufficiently equipped to cultivate and promote creativity, innovation and critical thinking skills. Further the question of migration of jobs across the geography requires us to get our younger generation ready for global citizenship as soon as possible. This will involve sensitising and educating them about the stereotypes with regard to particular race, gender, age, language, religion, ethnicity, region, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, social status etc. Another prominent aspect is to promote lifelong learning as an essential life skill to constantly be equipped to adapt to the drastic changes in the economy and society. So any career guidance programme will serve best to the current generation if it incorporate these aspects into its curriculum design. It also demands comprehensive changes in the pedagogical processes and assessments.

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