By Azera Rahman, IANS
New Delhi : Wires, networking, electronics…. stereotypically sounds like a man’s world, doesn’t it? But that’s not the case if you talk about it with the girl students of the Shaheed Rajguru College, For these 19-year-20-year-olds, their dreams are intertwined with electrical wires.
“What is all the fuss about, this being a man’s job and that a woman’s? Networking requires connecting wires, but that is only 20 percent of the work. And since we are interested in the subject and want to make it as our career, there is really nothing to stop us,” said Priyanka, a third-year student of the college.
The course on networking was started by the Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women in the year 2002, which is under Delhi University (DU) and supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem).
The course initially attracted about 20 girls annually, but now it has batches of nearly 100 girls.
College principal S. Lakshmi Devi said that the course is not only attracting more and more students of the college but students from other colleges as well.
“Networking is the ‘in’ thing. And knowledge on this subject gives one an edge over others. Five years back, Cisco, the networking company, did a presentation in our college, which generated a lot of interest among the girls. So we decided to introduce this subject, as ‘add-on’ course in the college.
“But since starting the course involved a lot of expenditure, we approached Unifem and they funded us. The course has been immensely successful and being the only college under DU to have this course, we have been getting a lot of requests from students of other colleges to let them join the course as well,” Devi told IANS.
The four-semester course, being a very specialised one, also required the teachers to have specialised knowledge on the subject. Thus, two teachers from the faculty were trained at the Amity university.
Ameeta Kapoor, one of the teachers and coordinators of the course, said that getting trained in the subject of networking is not enough. Whenever the course gets upgraded, they have to upgrade their knowledge as well.
“Whenever the course is updated, we have to attend classes and appear in exams to be eligible for teaching. The programme was last updated in Hyderabad and the next one will be in the capital some time soon,” Kapoor said.
Talking about the course, Kapoor said the reason for its popularity is that the course along with a graduation degree, be it in computer science, electronics or instrumentation, gives the students an edge over others when it comes to looking for jobs.
Some of the companies that have been approaching the students for training and placement are Wipro, HCL, Hughes, Sapient and Patni Computer Systems.
“The course along with a graduation degree will help us get good jobs in IT companies. Therefore, the course is attracting a lot of girls like me into it,” said Maneka Sharma, a second-year student.
Referring to one of the achievements of her students, Devi said a few girls who had passed out from the college and were receiving training at Bell, a well-known hardware company, had in fact helped the professionals there to solve a complex problem.
“This impressed them so much that the company has now requested us to start a course for them as well,” Devi laughed.
“Most students after getting their graduation degree want to go for higher studies. So they complete their masters and then get a job. A masters in computer application plus this course help them get good jobs, with a starting salary of Rs. 12,000-15,000,” Kapoor said.
Although the course was offered for free to the students initially, now they have to pay Rs. 7,000 for the course.
“If the course is pursued outside it would cost nearly Rs. 25,000. So in comparison to that, the fee is nominal here and parents don’t mind paying the sum, since it will ultimately help their children go a long way,” Devi said.