Communications of the ACM
The Myths and Realities of Studying Computer Science
The Sangam Vihar secondary school has four thousand boys and only 10 computer terminals.
Credit: Hindustan Times
On nights that Kshetrapal Singh, 17, worked his part-time job as a night watchman, he dreamed of computer science.
"Of everything taught in school, the only subject that can get me a proper job is computers," says Kshetrapal, a student in class 12 at Sangam Vihar's Government Boys Senior Secondary School. "And that's the one thing they aren't teaching me."
Kshetrapal can do little more with computers than switch them on and type. Partly this is because he's a humanities student, and therefore effectively ineligible for computer classes. It doesn't help that the school in Sangam Vihar has four thousand boys and only 10 computer terminals.
Students in middle school must wait months for the chance to spend 20 minutes with a machine. Class 12 students like Kshetrapal have never had the opportunity to use a computer at school.
Kshetrapal feels he is only a few computer monitors and class hours away from a secure, well-paying job. But the experiences of Kshetrapal's own teachers suggest that the subject no longer guarantees meaningful employment. An education in computers in Delhi schools tends not to prepare students for a career.
From Hindustan Times
View Full Article
No entries found