Computer training and social mobility

In the previous post about the nature of advertising in high involvement product categories, education figured as a lucrative business area. I discussed briefly the areas of English coaching and higher education (as represented by the numerous private MBA institutes and dental colleges and engineering college all over the country). Exciting promises of a bright future. In exchange for a king’s ransom as fees. Which people were willing to pay – in anticipation of even part fulfilment of their dreams and aspirations – as conveyed in the advertising for such “products”.

Another money making business in the sphere of education which is discussed here is computer training. What lies behind the phenomenal success of computer training centres that have mushroomed across large and small towns in India in the last decad? Clearly, the key reason is that of a tangible benefit – a job at the end of the course. An advantage that “vocational” training has over conventional college education. These training centres started small, diffidently offering courses that supplemented formal education. And soon caught on to the fact that people were willing to accept such training as substitutes instead. From certificate / diploma courses offered in return for a few weeks / months of classes, soon there were degrees being ofered, for courses extending over a few years. If as a conventional graduate, you had no perceived value in the job market, as a graduate from the ‘premier computer training centres’ of the day, you landed straight from your desk at the class to a desk at a “multinational company”.

Apart from this, there is another reason for the roaring success of such centres. Especially in small town India which made as much money for this business as the large towns. A new dimension to social mobility that conventional sociology has not taken much notice of.

These centers offered young men and women an opportunity and place to meet other young men and women in public. In a society that was otherwise traditional and constricting, such classes offered legitimate and even parentally approved meeting grounds for the young with romantic notions. Or just the young wanting to ‘break free’ – in more ways than one.

I discovered this dimension quite by accident while an acquaintance mentioned to me that he had met his wife at NIIT; there were four other couples from his batch alone. “I got the feeling that some of them came there only for that purpose“.

Think about the number of times you have noticed groups of young people hanging out in front of computer centres – at all times of the day. I am not suggesting that this was the only reason for the popularity of such courses. I see this as a bonus that a lot of young people in the last decade or so discovered. Get an ‘education’ that is job-oriented, and along the way, if you happen to meet and like someone, then all the better. And your parents are paying for all this too… (so what if they, with dreams of their children’s brilliant future, went bankrupt in the process…)